A man has said he feels like his ‘manhood was taken away’ after finding out his Snapchat date was transgender, a court has heard.
Ciara Watkin met the man after exchanging messages on the social media app.
Teeside Crown Court heard how the now 21-year-old performed sex acts on the man after they attended a home in Thornaby a number of years ago.
In a police interview played in court, the alleged victim said: ‘All the way throughout she made out she was fully a girl.’
He added: ‘We were drinking. We sat there for a while just chatting. We decided to go into the bedroom which is when everything happened.’
‘Throughout the full time, she was telling me she was on her period.. It was like as far as I was concerned she was a female.’
Asked how he felt about what had happened, the alleged victim said: ‘It makes me feel like it’s taken away my manhood. I see it as something that upsets me. I’m just trying to hide my emotions. At first I did just have an emotional breakdown.’
The court heard in the man’s evidence that Watkin had asked him to come into the bathroom when using the toilet and asked for the light to be switched off so it was ‘pitch black’. The jury heard that Watkin had moved his hand from the defendant’s breast and thigh.
Ciara Watkin, 21, Pictured this morning at Teesside Crown Court, denies two counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual assault by penetration
Ciara Watkin, 21, has been accused of sexual assault after she ‘concealed male genitalia’ during a night with a Snapchat date
Watkin had asked him to come into the bathroom when using the toilet and asked for the light to be switched off so it was ‘pitch black’, the court heard
Victoria Lamballe, defending Watkin, said the 21-year-old has had no gender reassignment surgery and had stuffed clothing inside of their bra.
The court heard that it was some time after the pair had met that Watkin told him over the phone about being transgender.
In his police interview, he told officers: ‘That’s when she went and told me she was transgender but obviously still has a penis. I was shocked. If I knew she had a penis I wouldn’t have got with her.’
He told officers he ‘didn’t swing that way’.
Ms Lamballe asked the man: ‘Is it really your position that at no point in the course of these hours that it never occurred to you that she may not be female?’
‘I thought she was a female,’ he responded. Watkin, of Queen’s Avenue, in Thornaby, denies two counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual assault by penetration.
Paul Reid, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court on Tuesday, August 19, that when arrested, Watkin told officers: ‘Me and him had sex without me telling him I was a boy. When I let him know I was a different gender, he didn’t like it.’
‘She agreed that sexual activity had taken place,’ Mr Reid said, outlining the prosecution’s case.
Watkin had not undergone any gender reassignment surgery and had stuffed clothing down her bra
Watkin stands accused of having performed sex acts on the man after he arrived at a house in Thornaby, north Yorkshire, a number of years ago
The prosecution said Watkin had pretended to be on a period so that the man would not touch below the defendant’s waist
At a previous hearing Mr Reid said Watkin pretended to be on a period so that the man would not touch below the defendant’s waist.
The prosecutor then told the jury that Watkin later contacted her date to reveal ‘a massive secret.’ Messages sent between the two were read out to the jury.
When the alleged victim asked if the secret was that she was pregnant, Watkin replied: ‘I’m trans. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.’
The man messaged: ‘WTF. So you have a d***?’ before repeating his question.
Watkin added: ‘That’s why I haven’t s****** you.’
The court heard that Watkin’s Snapchat profile used a female cartoon avatar and that there had been no discussion about sexuality or gender.
The trial continues.
