Alleged St. Paul's School Rapist Takes the Stand

A former St. Paul’s School student who is facing numerous counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault charges in Merrimack County Superior Court took the stand in his own defense on Aug. 26, 2015, and stated that he lied to friends about the encounter, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader.

Owen Labrie, of Tunbridge, VT, stated in testimony that he told a friend that he “hooked up” with the 15-year-old girl, who is accusing him of rape, but didn’t say he had sex with the girl. He said he did it to “boast” to his friends.

Last week, the girl, who is now 16, claims she was lured to meet Labrie at a building on the school’s campus and then sexually assaulted.

The prosecution pointed to 119 Facebook messages between Labrie and friends that he and his mother deleted after learning that there was a sexual assault case investigation against him.

One of the messages stated, “Gotta go fall in love for half an hour,” but the defense maintains that while there was heavy petting, there was no penetration. Labrie admitted to having a crush on the victim and said the girl was a willing participant in the encounter that was part of a “Senior Salute” sex ritual at the prestigious private prep school in Concord. Labrie also denied that her underwear was removed during the encounter while describing how he removed some of her clothing.

“I was OK with seeing how the night went,” he said. “If we were having fun.”

According to testimony in court, the state police crime lab was able to find a skin cell containing DNA from Labrie in the victim’s underwear. The girl’s underwear contained semen but the lab could not ID a source of the sperm sample, according to Kate Swango of the crime lab.

Read the full coverage online at unionleader.com.

Caption: Former St. Paul’s School student Owen Labrie explains how he disrobed a 15-year-old fellow student while testifying in Merrimack County Superior Court on Aug. 28, 2015. Credit: Pool/Charles Krupa/AP