She said that, after a few glasses of red wine, Theophanous convinced the woman to take a private tour of Parliament with him. Ms Williams said the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, agreed, believing there would be plenty of security personnel and people around. But she said that, when they got to Parliament, Theophanous took the woman in the back door and showed her the upper house chamber, which was almost pitch black. "The complainant then told the defendant that she wanted to leave. There was no one there and it was dimly lit. The defendant had tried to take her into a darkened area and now she felt trapped,'' Ms Williams said. She said that Theophanous insisted that they keep going and took the woman to his office.

Ms Williams said that Theophanous then raped the woman on a couch in the room, covering her face with his hand so she could not scream. She said he stopped when the woman's phone rang and said nothing else to the alleged victim until after they had left the building. "When they were outside, the defendant said 'What I like about you is that you are loyal.' The complainant immediately perceived this to be a threat to keep quiet,'' Ms Williams said. She said that, since the alleged incident, the woman had had a breakdown and moved to Greece to live with her parents. Ms Williams said that Theophanous had continued to call and message the woman until as late as 2007.

But Robert Richter, QC, for Theophanous, told magistrate Peter Reardon that the woman's claims were pure fantasy and that she had only accused Theophanous of rape in an attempt to get money. "The evidence will demonstrate that the complainant is a fantasist, a manipulative fabricator of stories,'' he said. Mr Richter said that the woman was a prescription drug addict who had revised her statement 17 times before finally submitting the version before the court. He said that, when she first complained to a solicitor about the alleged rape, she told him that it was in the winter of 2000, not in September 1998. And he said that two of the three people to whom she claimed to have told of the rape directly afterwards said they did not believe she had ever talked to them about it.

He said that at the end of the committal he would request that Mr Reardon strike out the charges against Theophanous because no reasonable jury, properly directed, could find the woman to be a credible witness. The parties to the case are attending a view of the scene of the alleged rape, and the alleged victim is expected to give evidence this afternoon. The hearing continues.