WARNING: This story contains graphic and disturbing content. Discretion is advised.
A woman took the stand on Tuesday in the trial of a man accused of allegedly sexually assaulting her during an 11-hour ordeal at a Calgary hotel in 2017.
The woman, who can only be identified as Rachel, described how she met the accused, 39-year-old Vasilios “Billy” Georgopoulos, on dating website SugarDaddy.com.
Rachel said Georgopoulos told her his name was Marcus.
The two agreed to meet in person on Oct. 4, 2017, when the victim was visiting her mother in Calgary.
According to Rachel, the man ordered a cab to pick her up from her mother’s home. She claimed she thought she was meeting him at her apartment but the address turned out to be that of a downtown hotel.
Once inside the hotel room, she told court — with a police support dog at her feet — Georgopoulos poured her a drink, which she thought was vodka and water because of the clear colour.
She also accepted a “cap” she described as a shot, which she assumed was a shot of vodka.
Rachel said she and Georgopoulos talked for about half an hour on the couch in the hotel living room before he asked “how her oral was.”
“He was wanting oral,” she said. “I said I would try it with him.”
Choking back tears, Rachel said that while she was performing oral sex, Georgopoulos hit her on the back of the head with what she believed was a can of butane, claiming she had bitten him.
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She described jumping up and telling Georgopoulos that he had hurt her, at which point he told her it was unintentional and convinced her to sit down on the couch to relax and talk again for about half an hour.
According to her, he made her a second drink — which she again thought was vodka and water — and suggested moving to the bedroom where it might be more comfortable and they could “try again.”
Once in the bedroom, Rachel said Georgopoulos gave her another “cap,” which tasted like a strong shot of liquor.
After watching TV for about half an hour, Rachel said she agreed to attempt oral sex on Georgopoulos again but claimed after a few minutes, he said: “I wasn’t doing it right, and he would just have sex with me instead.”
She said Georgopoulos then quickly penetrated her vaginally from behind but kept telling her to “stay still” and “stop moving around so much.”
Fighting through tears, Rachel told court how the accused punched her in the back at least three times.
“I told him it hurt and to stop,” she said.
She then described Georgopoulos penetrating her anally, without her consent.
At that point, she said she shot off the bed, ran to grab her purse and coat, and told Georgopoulos she wanted to leave.
Rachel claimed he followed her into the living room, calling her a “pig, ugly and fat.”
He then dumped the contents of her purse, grabbed her phone and broke it into three pieces, according to the 49-year-old woman.
“I didn’t know who I was messing around with,” she said.
Rachel said Georgopoulos warned her that if she didn’t shut up, he would kill her, saying he had killed someone before.
She said she began to panic and cry uncontrollably as the accused tried to show her video on his cellphone of the person he claimed to have killed.
She also described Georgopoulos pulling out a pocketknife and threatening her with it, at one point punching her in the face so hard her tooth cut through her lip.
According to Rachel, the accused physically and sexually attacked her several times — including raping her anally.
“A couple of times, he put his hand over my mouth to muffle me,” she said, sobbing.
“He said he’d let me go when I calmed down.”
The complainant told prosecutor Zailin Lakhoo that she began to believe she had been drugged, saying she started to feel weak, dizzy and sick to her stomach.
The witness described being in and out of consciousness while Georgopoulos forced her to give him oral sex as he continued to punch her in the face.
At one point, she said she heard a clicking noise, looked up to see a flame coming toward her face and put her arms up to shield herself, burning her wrist.
When Georgopoulos briefly left the room, Rachel testified she was able to escape the room and took the elevator down to the lobby.
She asked the desk clerk to call 911 but said he called a taxi instead, which took her to her mother’s apartment. She said she called police.
Georgopoulos faces four charges: sexual assault causing bodily harm, forcible confinement, uttering threats and while allegedly assaulting the woman, threatening her with the use of a weapon.
The judge-alone trial is scheduled to last five days.
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