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Alleged Victim Testifies In Sexual Assault Case

Tuntutuliak resident Charlie Steven, age 43, is accused of raping the alleged victim in his home when she blacked out after drinking.

An alleged rape victim took the stand yesterday and testified against Tuntutuliak resident Charlie Steven, the man charged with attacking her last year. Steven, age 43, is accused of raping the alleged victim in his home when she had blacked out after drinking.

On the morning of October 10, 2016, the alleged victim woke up to a “living, breathing nightmare.” That’s how Assistant District Attorney Monroe Tyler described it in his opening statement yesterday. When the alleged victim took the stand, she testified that she could only remember pieces of it.

She said she remembered drinking with her father the night before, and then finishing a bottle with a friend. She remembered walking home at around 4:30 that morning and having trouble walking. She remembered feeling buzzed and blacking out, but she said that she did not remember collapsing on the Tuntutuliak  boardwalk, which is where prosecutors say that Charlie Steven found her and offered her help.

Assistant DA Tyler said that Steven and his girlfriend carried the alleged victim to their home. Then Steven’s girlfriend went upstairs. The alleged victim didn’t remember that either. 

The alleged victim remembered that when she “came to” she was on a bed and Charlie Steven was on top of her. She did not remember getting dressed and barely remembered calling a friend for help. She recalls telling her father, her friend, and her boyfriend what happened and she remembered trying to run back to Steven’s house to confront him, though her family managed to stop her. “I was angry and sad,” the alleged victim said quietly.

Steven is charged with one count of sexual assault in the second degree. In his opening statement, Assistant Public Defender John Putikka implied that the sex Steven had with the alleged victim was consensual. "There are two sides to every coin and two sides to every story,” he said. The defense has yet to present its case.

Our reporting on the trial is ongoing.