"I am laying on my bed and he is on top of me. I cannot see his face but can see his beard and hairy chest. I am also holding both of my hands over my vagina."

On Wednesday, July 13, the alleged victim in the case against ex HSU football player Raul Sierra took the stand. Sierra was held to answer on the charge of forcible rape by use of drugs. His arraignment for jury trial is on July 27.

Before she took the stand, Deputy District Attorney Brie Bennett informed Judge Timothy Cissna, "The complaining witness no longer wants to go by Jane Doe, so I will be using her name."

The alleged victim in this case is Rigmor Angel Soerensen, a HSU student, who moved here from from Norway.

She calmly answered most questions and very credibly. She did break down crying at several points in her testimony and asked for a brief break before cross examination started.

Ms. Bennett asked Ms. Soerensen how she felt about testifying and she said she was nervous.

When asked why she chose not to remain confidential, Ms. Soerenesen replied, "Because usually when I read about similar cases, they are anonymous. It's a cultutal thing. In America, they put the accused picture and photo. In Norway, they do not. It's not fair. I want my own name against the name."

One of the most poignant moments of Soerensen's testimony was her talking about the only two still images she could recall of the night she was allegedly raped by Sierra.

These images were her standing in front of the door of her room, seeing the ceiling, desk and her bed at the back of her room. She started crying when she mentioned the second still memory. "I am laying on my bed and he is on top of me. I cannot see his face but can see his beard and hairy chest. I am also holding both of my hands over my vagina."

She has four roommates. I will only be using her roommates and friends' first names. While she was attending HSU, she used the Tinder dating app. In October 2015, she met someone through Tinder. She identified that person as Sierra. When she first met him, she only knew his first name, "Raul."

Soerensen said she and Sierra exchanged small talk and "he asked me out for coffee."

Ms. Bennett: "Did you continue to text him?"

Soerensen: "Yes."

Ms. Bennett: "Did you continue to text him?"

Soerensen: "Yes."

Ms. Bennett: "Did you meet him?"

Soerensen: "I met him a couple of weeks after texting. We ran into each other at the Marketplace at HSU. It was not arranged but we recognized each other. We chatted for 5 -10 minutes. He had asked me out so many times and I had rejected him. When I met him, I couldn't say no."

"One or two days later" after running into Sierra at the Marketplace, Soerensen said they had coffee at Northtown Coffee and were there "a couple of hours."

Ms Bennett: "During that time, did you physically touch?"

Soerensen: "He started to touch my hands on the table and I moved backwards."

Soerensen said told Sierra "a story about another football player who tried to hit on me and wanted to have sex. When I said no, he wouldn't come out of his room". She said it was kind of funny because this guy was crying after she said no. "I said so because I wanted to make clear that I did not want a one night stand."

Soerensen said she saw Sierra "the day after". She texted him because she and her roomates were bored. "He said all the parties were the day before but we could play drinking games."

"First I asked if I could come over to his place," said Soerensen. "I asked if my roomates could come over. Since it was five girls and only him, we asked him to come over to our place. He brought 48 cans of beer and a bottle of vodka. "

Sierra arrived around "4 p.m." She could not remember what he was wearing but she remembered that she was wearing grey sweatpants, HSU hoodie and grey sneakers.

Ms. Bennett: "Was there any physical contact?"

Soerensen: "I'm pretty sure we had."

"Everyone was was chit chatting," said Soerensen. "My roommates had only met him slightly. When he walked me home after we had coffee."

Soerensen said that they set up cups, played various drinking games and she could not recall all of them. She mentioned Beer Pong and Flip Cup. Everyone was consuming alcohol.

Ms. Bennett: "Did any of your roommates appear drunk to you?"

Soerensen: "Two of them. They became more outgoing."

Soerensen said "she felt the effects of the alcohol, she felt drunk." She did not know exactly how much everyone drank but she said Sierra "was in charge of the drinks" and "so less than us" referring to how much alcohol he may have had.

Ms. Bennett: "Do you frequently drink?"

Soerensen: "I used to; I used to drink vodka or wine. This was beer."

Soerensen said she did "1 or 2 shots that night. Can't remember how many beers."

Ms. Bennett asked if there was any social interaction after the game. Soerensen said that they took a "break" in between and they were "all chatting."

Ms. Bennett: "Any interaction between you and Mr. Sierra in a public place?"

Soerensen said she could not remember. She added that they talked about "a guy she was seeing."

Ms. Bennett asked if there was any flirting.

Soerensen: "Probably."

Ms. Bennett asked Soerensen about why she could not remember.

Soerensen said, "because of the amount of time and whatever we were drinking. I shouldn't have an issue with memory but I do. I blacked out at one point."

Ms. Bennett: "Do you remember going into your bedroom?"

Soerensen: "I only have two still pictures in my head."

She said she remembers playing beer pong in the kitchen.

After that, the first still picture she remembers is, "I am in front of my door. I can see the ceiling in my room. I can see my desk and bed in the back of the room."

"The second still picture if from my view but also an out of body experience.I am laying on my bed and he is on top of me. I cannot see his face but can see his beard and hairy chest. I am also holding both of my hands over my vagina. "

"I can't recall clothing but we were both naked in the bed, if that is what you are referring to," Soerensen said, in response to a question by Ms. Bennett.

Ms. Bennett: "Can you remember any specific body parts?"

Soerensen: "Nothing except his beard and his chest. That is all I can see from looking, laying down."

"I did not wake up until 1 p.m. the day after," said Soerensen. "Next day, I felt horrible. I don't know how to explain it. I felt like I was completely dead inside." She was crying as she was testifying.

Ms. Bennett asked if she felt anything was different.

Soerensen said, "I could feel something had happened; like someone had penetrated me." She said this was based "on my experience of having sex."

She said she was in bed when she woke up; she spoke with three of her roommates. After a while she exchanged "text message with Raul."

He had texted her saying, "I am home right now."

"I replied sarcastically, I hope you had fun," said Soerensen. "I can't remember what he said right now."


Soerensen said Sierra and she did not discuss via text about that night.

After she spoke with her roommates, she went to St. Joseph's hospital. "because we realized something happened and we had to do something." She got a SART exam "to gather as much evidence as we could about sexual assault."

Soerensen said that the nurse at the hospital contacted law enforcement and they came to the hospital. Late that evening, on Sunday, she did a pretext call. An officer was present with her.

First she texted Sierra, he did not respond. She called him, "he answered eventually."

Soerensen testified that Sierra acknowledged in that phone call that he had sex with her and he knew she was drunk.

Ms. Bennett: "At any point, did he make a comment about the level of inebriation?"

Soerensen: "He said different things. He said he was drunk."

Ms. Bennett: "At any point, did he apologize?"

Soerensen: "First he apologized but didn't say why. Then I asked and he apologized for having sex with me when I was drunk and didn't want to."

Ms. Bennett: "Did you want to have sex with the defendant?"

Soerensen: "No." She was crying and wiping away tears.




Previous posts:

http://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2016/07/alleged-victim-in-hsu-football-players.html
http://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2016/07/ex-hsu-football-player-raul-sierra-held.html