Prosecution: ‘Three women, 20 years apart — this is not a conspiracy, it is a pattern’

A CARMARTHEN man accused of raping three women over the course of two decades showed “absolute indifference” to consent, a jury has heard at Swansea Crown Court.

Daniel Gravell, aged 43, of Porth Y Plas in Johnstown, is standing trial for three counts of rape relating to alleged incidents in 2002, 2005, and 2022. He denies all charges.

Gravell, a former teacher and one-time manager of a local wedding venue, faced closing arguments on Thursday (Apr 30) after a week of disturbing and detailed evidence. Prosecuting counsel Matthew Cobbe told jurors that Gravell’s behaviour demonstrated a long-standing pattern of targeting women who were intoxicated or otherwise vulnerable.

Mr Cobbe said: “He is calculating. He is manipulative. And over a span of 20 years, he has shown complete indifference to whether the women he has sex with actually consent.”

Allegations span two decades
The court heard that the first alleged rape occurred in 2002 after a night out. The complainant said she had been drinking at a friend’s house before heading into town, but recalled waking at around 4:15am with Gravell on top of her. She said she told him to stop, but he continued — falsely telling her, “It’s OK, it’s [her ex-boyfriend’s name].” The jury heard that she told a friend she had been raped moments later.

Gravell’s own friend, who gave evidence last week, said Gravell had described the encounter using the same phrase — “It’s OK, it’s [name]” — and appeared to be boasting about it at the time.

The second allegation dates to June 2005 and relates to an alleged rape outside Carmarthen Athletic Club. The woman said Gravell approached her outside a pub on Lammas Street, said he knew her father, and lured her away. She claimed he then raped her near the club. Gravell told the court that while he recognised her from the area, the sex was consensual and took place with her facing away from him.

Mr Cobbe challenged this, asking the jury: “Is it really impossible to have sex vertically against a wall, as he claims? Or is it just part of a story that doesn’t add up?”

‘Spiked’ on night of 2022 allegation
The most recent incident is alleged to have occurred in February 2022 after a night out in Carmarthen. The complainant told relatives the next day that she believed her drink had been spiked — she woke up covered in vomit with no memory of how she got home.

A neighbour told the court he saw Gravell arrive at the complainant’s home that night and bang loudly on the door before being let in. Later, Gravell’s friend, the late Ieuan Davies, described walking in on the woman giving Gravell oral sex and shouting, “Go on, Gravsy!” as a joke.

Davies said the woman immediately pulled a sheet over herself and later appeared to be having sex with Gravell upstairs.

Gravell told the court the sex was entirely consensual. “She was on top of me, enjoying it,” he said. He claimed they had sex twice that night — the second time after he returned to the room in the early hours.

A taxi driver who took Gravell and the woman home earlier that evening said the pair seemed drunk but friendly, and he assumed they were a couple. The driver recalled Gravell saying, “I’ll show you trouble later,” which he took as a sexual innuendo.

Defence: ‘This case began with gossip’
Defence barrister Tom Crowther KC urged the jury to remain sceptical, questioning the reliability of the women’s accounts and the possibility of cross-contamination over time.

“This case began with the 2016 trial,” said Mr Crowther, referring to a previous occasion on which Gravell was acquitted of rape. “Since then, the rumour mill in Carmarthen has never stopped turning. Gossip has turned into allegations.”

He told the jury that the third complainant did not want to report Gravell and that it was only after her aunt contacted police that the investigation began.

“She didn’t want him prosecuted. She didn’t say his name in her first interview. She was trying to hide who she’d been with — possibly because she regretted it, not because it was rape,” said Mr Crowther.

He also questioned the consistency of the three complaints. “How is it that two of the complainants, who deny ever knowing or speaking to each other, both referred to themselves as the ‘mother hen’ of their friend group?”

Mr Crowther said each complainant had “added last-minute details” to their statements over time and reminded jurors that there was no physical evidence to support any of the three rape allegations. He said the 2005 allegation was particularly implausible given its location next to a busy rugby club and police station.

In response, Mr Cobbe asked the jury: “If these women are lying, then it is one of the most elaborate conspiracies you are ever likely to see. But they didn’t know each other. They aren’t working together. What are the odds that three women, 20 years apart, would independently lie about the same man?”

Judge to sum up before deliberations
Judge Geraint Walters is due to sum up the case on Friday (May 2), before the jury retires to consider its verdicts.

Gravell remains on bail and denies all charges.