Content warning: This article contains distressing details and descriptions of sexual violence.
Two women have come forward to describe the horrifying details of the sexual assault they allegedly faced at the hands of controversial social media influencer Andrew Tate more than a decade ago.
The women spoke on a new BBC Panorama episode, sharing the graphic first-hand accounts of the alleged rape and sexual violence by the 37-year old media personality.
One woman, who went by the pseudonym of Anna, described the 2013 incident as occurring while she and Tate were in Luton, a town in Bedfordshire in the UK.
Anna said that after a few days, she returned to Tate’s residence.
“He started kissing me… and he just looked up at the ceiling and said, ‘I’m just debating whether I should rape you or not. Out of the blue he just grabbed me by the throat, smashed me to the back of the bed, strangling me extremely hard,” she told BBC.
Anna alleges that Tate then raped her. After the assault, he sent her disturbing text and voice messages about sexual violence.
“Am I a bad person? Because the more you didn’t like it, the more I enjoyed it,” Tate said in a voice note. In one text message, he wrote: “I love raping you.”
Anna alleged that Tate tried to make light of his criminal behaviours, texting her, “Are you seriously so offended I strangled you a little bit?” The BBC reached out to Tate, who declined to comment.
Anna went to Bedfordshire Police a year later to report the attack. According to the BBC, two other women also came forward to make similar allegations against Tate before Hertfordshire Police took over the investigation. Five years later, the Crown Prosecution Service received a file regarding the allegations, but things stalled due to insufficient evidence.
Tate and his brother Tristan are currently in Romania facing charges of human trafficking and forming an organised group to sexually exploit women. Andrew is under house arrest and is also being charged with rape — allegations which he denies.
If they are found guilty, the Tate brothers could be sentenced to more than a decade in prison.
The second woman to speak to the BBC this week alleged that she was strangled by Andrew Tate during a sexual encounter.
“We went to my bedroom… and we started having sex,” Sienna (not her real name) said. “That was when he put his hands around my throat.”
Sienna said she struggled for air before losing consciousness. When she woke, she said Tate was still having sex with her. “I was absolutely terrified,” she said. “I just remember gasping for air… It was rape.”
The following day, Sienna said she had a bloodshot eye.
“One of the whites of my eyes had just gone completely red – apparently it’s quite common in domestic abuse cases where there’s been strangulation,” she told BBC.
She did not report the crime to police — a decision she said she now regrets.
Sienna and Anna have launched a legal case against Andrew Tate, accusing him of rape and sexual assault. The case will be heard in the High Court in London.
According to BBC Panorama, five women in the UK have alleged they were strangled by Tate during sex. In an interview with him last year, Tate denied ever having strangled or raping a woman. “I know I’ve never hurt anybody. It’s not in my nature to hurt people,” he said.
In another interview he gave last year, he said: “I look forward to the truth coming out. I look forward to the truth being blasted all over the BBC that Andrew Tate was found not guilty because I’ve never done anything wrong.”
Earlier this year, four women in the UK created a crowdfunding page to raise money for legal fees to “bring Andrew Tate to Justice in the UK”. The women described themselves as “survivors of Andrew Tate’s violence and misogynistic ideology” and tried to bring a civil trial against him.
If you or someone you know is experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, domestic, family or sexual violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, text 0458 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au for online chat and video call services.
If you are concerned about your behaviour or use of violence, you can contact the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491 or visit http://www.ntv.org.au.