The jury in the trial of a mentally ill Sudbury man accused of stalking two young women and threatening to rape one of them will continue its deliberations today.
Forty-four-year-old James O’Reilly, of Jameson Place, Sudbury, is accused of stalking one of the alleged victims between April and July 2019 and stalking the other woman between February and August 2019.
Ipswich Crown Court has heard that O’Reilly, who has psychiatric issues, wasn’t fit to stand trial and the jury would have to decide if he behaved in the way described by the victims.
The jury retired on Thursday and was sent home at the end of the court day without coming to a decision.
It is alleged that O’Reilly approached one of the alleged victims in Sudbury and put his arm around her and followed her into a shop, Ipswich Crown Court heard.
He then allegedly followed her out of the shop and pulled her close before threatening to rape her, said Sheilagh Davies, prosecuting.
O’Reilly had also allegedly followed another woman in Sudbury and asked her if she had a boyfriend and asked her to go to his house, which she refused to do.
A month later he had turned up at her home while she was there on her own, and when she shut the door because she was scared, he said: “You shouldn’t have done that” and appeared to be angry.
Her father later examined doorbell footage and discovered O’Reilly had returned to the house at night and could be seen looking through windows.
The police were contacted, and an officer went to O’Reilly’s address and warned him about his behaviour.
Miss Davies said that before following the other young woman into a shop he’d allegedly made a sexual comment to her.
After following her out if the shop, he allegedly grabbed her and said: “I’ll rape you”.
The woman had seen O’Reilly a month later as she was walking to work and had a panic attack and ran home before getting a taxi to take her to work.
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