Da Silva Neto trial: Defendant gives evidence about December allegations

Giving evidence to Oxford Crown Court this afternoon, Luiz da Silva Neto, 35, strenuously denied drugging the married company director after meeting him outside a Chelsea nightclub – and said any sexual activity between the two men was consensual and initiated by the other man.

The defendant told the jury that the man, who was out on the night of December 9 with colleagues, had got into his Zipcar hire vehicle willingly. The pair drove to da Silva Neto’s friend’s flat, where the man was said to have undressed, before they went to an off-licence, picked-up the defendant’s female friend then drove to da Silva Neto’s cottage in Middle Barton, Oxfordshire.

READ MORE: Jury hears from second 'victim' who woke in Cotswolds cottage

During the drive, they were allegedly listening to music, talking about their lives and the alleged victim was ‘making advances’ to da Silva Neto’s female friend, ‘Melissa’, in the car. The defendant took ‘some crystal meth’ on the drive and he claimed the alleged victim ‘had a little bag of cocaine’.

When they reached the cottage, da Silva Neto claimed the man had helped him take ‘laundry’ and other items into the house.

The man went to the bathroom. The defendant, who earlier that evening had been videoing men at pub urinals, said he went to check on the man and inadvertently pressed ‘record’ on his phone’s camera.

“After I started the video – I didn’t realise I started the video – I put the phone in the back of my [trouser] pocket. We went downstairs. When we got downstairs he opened his zippers and got his genitalia out I was surprised and I said: ‘Oh my God’,” the defendant told jurors.

Asked why he had said ‘oh my God’, da Silva Neto said: “I was surprised with the size of it.”

READ MORE: Cotswolds 'drugging' trial accused begins giving evidence at Oxford Crown Court

In that state of undress, the alleged victim was said to have helped move wood by the log fire.

That account was questioned by trial judge Michael Gledhill QC: “There is this strange man in your sitting room with his large penis exposed…You are suggesting that in that state of undress and exposure he’s starting to light the log fire. That is your evidence?”

Da Silva Neto replied: “Yes, I was asking him to light the fire. Then he starts to use the matches.”

The defendant said the man went into his bedroom and they watched pornography together. The man began performing a sex act on himself, he claimed, before asking the defendant ‘if he wanted’ to perform oral sex on him. That lasted several minutes, with both men performing oral sex, it was claimed.

The man left by taxi the following day. “He turned his phone on and was talking to me, saying he was in a lot of trouble with his wife. He said ‘my wife is going to kill me’,” da Silva Neto claimed.

Oxford Crown Court file image Picture: ED NIX

At the conclusion of several hours of questioning by his barrister, Merry van Woodenberg, da Silva Neto was asked: “You know it is suggested you drugged and sexually assaulted this man. What do you say to that?”

“Absolutely not,” the defendant replied.

Prosecutors say the second victim was kidnapped by the defendant outside the Kings Road nightclub, drugged with some substance, taken to Oxfordshire and raped and sexually assaulted. The man, who gave evidence last week, denied having any memory of meeting the defendant in Chelsea, being taken to a flat in Bayswater or meeting the defendant’s friend ‘Melissa’.

The trial continues.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward