Mr Justice O’Hara frees Polish man accused of raping woman in east Belfast

A WOMAN was subjected to a terrifying rape in east Belfast after failing to get a taxi home, the High Court has heard.

A judge was told that the alleged victim was forced against a car and sexually assaulted during an early morning walk through the east of the city, prosecutors said.

Polish man Lukasz Artur Kubik is accused of carrying out the attack on 31 January.

DNA evidence is to be used in the case against him, a judge was told.

The 29-year-old, with an address at Tower Street in Belfast, faces charges of rape, sexual assault and common assault.

He denies the allegations, claiming that any forensic link is due to coming into innocent contact with the woman.

During a bail hearing on Wednesday, a prosecution lawyer said that the alleged victim had gone to a taxi depot in the east of the city seeking a cab home.

Kubik and up to four other women were also said to have been outside the premises, which were closed.

The alleged victim then walked off before being attacked in a nearby street, the court heard.

According to the prosecution, the other women had left at some point before the victim was pushed against a car.

It was claimed that her attacker performed a sex act and pulled her trousers down before carrying out the rape and running off.

On Wednesday, Kubik was granted bail to stay at a hostel in the city on the condition that he is curfewed, electronically monitored, and that he keeps out of east Belfast.

He was also banned from leaving Northern Ireland and ordered to surrender his passport.

Mr Justice O’Hara further directed him to have no contact with the alleged victim or any of those he was with that night.