The trial of a man accused of attacking a fellow Florida International University student in her dorm room got underway Tuesday with the alleged victim and the accused attacker both taking the stand.
Brandon Allen, 21, was charged with battery, false imprisonment and lewd and lascivious behavior in the April 2015 incident.
Prosecutors say Allen went to the victim's dorm room in the FIU campus and forced himself on the victim. They believe evidence in the case, including marks on her neck, a DNA-stained shirt and bed linens will put the former student behind bars.
"And he was holding me down by my neck so I couldn't move," the alleged victim said as she testified Tuesday. "[When I] asked him to stop or said anything he would cover my mouth."
"He was laying on top of me and I tried to push him away so my arms were trapped in between us at that point," the woman testified.
"This man nicknamed 'Be-Nasty' is a criminal. He overpowered a girl 20-years-old in her FIU dorm room and violated her," prosecutor Robin Peguero said.
But the defense claimed the victim allowed Allen into her room.
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"She opens the door, she invites him in. Brandon goes directly to her room because he knows where it is, because he's been there before," defense attorney Jeremy Triana said.
Allen testified that the victim did not tell him to stop.
The alleged victim had told a friend and fellow student that she was now afraid to be alone.
"She was pretty distraught about the incident and she didn't want to go anywhere alone on campus, I had to walk her from her dorm to other places," friend Nicole Wasieleski testified.
Allen could face a maximum of five years in state prison if convicted. The trial is expected to resume Wednesday.
