EAGLE - The woman who accused Kobe Bryant of rape told police a flirtatious encounter quickly turned ugly when he grabbed her by the neck, bent her over a chair and attacked her, repeatedly asking, "You're not going to tell anybody about this, right?"

The 19-year-old woman was raped after agreeing to go to Bryant's suite at the resort where she worked, Eagle County Sheriff's Detective Doug Winters testified Thursday at a preliminary hearing to determine whether Bryant will stand trial.

She said she told Bryant "no" at least twice and he ignored her, pulling her dress up and her underwear down and raping her from behind.

At one point, the woman told police, Bryant forced her to face him and say "no" when he asked if she was going to tell anyone. After the attack, Bryant made her kiss his penis, Winters said the woman told investigators.

Bryant, 25, has insisted the sex was consensual. He sat at the defense table staring straight at Winters for much of the hearing, hands folded in front of him. Bryant occasionally clenched his jaw, but showed little other reaction.

Though the testimony was graphic, the most explosive statement came from Bryant's own defense attorney when she suggested under cross examination that the woman's injuries would also be "consistent with a person who has had sex with three different men in three days."

That led an angry Judge Frederick Gannett to empty the courtroom and summon the lawyers to his chambers. Gannett was also upset earlier when defense attorney Pamela Mackey said the woman's name four times when asking questions.

The hearing - expected to last only an afternoon - was finally adjourned after more than six hours, an indication the trial could be long and laborious for both sides. Gannett said it would continue next Wednesday, and the district attorney's office said Bryant had to appear.

Winters, the only witness of the afternoon, recounted what the woman told him in an hourlong interview the day after she met Bryant at the resort. It all began with a tour of the hotel on June 30 that led to some flirting. She went back to Bryant's room and showed him a tattoo on her ankle, then turned down his request to join him in the hot tub, Winters said.

Her shift at the front desk was ending and she wanted to go home, he said, and "she was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable."

Winters said she stood up to leave and Bryant gave her a hug that led to some consensual kissing, Winters said.

But when she turned to go, Bryant grabbed her by the neck, pulled up her black dress and raped her against a chair, Winters said. She told investigators she said "no" at least twice, before bursting into tears as the five-minute attack went on.

Bryant wasn't holding her neck so tight she couldn't breathe, Winters said, but enough to control her movement.

Afterward, Bryant told the woman to clean up, Winters said. She fixed her hair, wiped her face and left after again promising to remain silent.

She went back to the front desk to finish up her work and finally left the resort with an unidentified bellman, Winters said. She told him what happened and he urged her to report it, later following her home.

Winters testified that the woman's blood was found on the inside of Bryant's T-shirt, based on DNA tests. The woman told him she had bleeding from the attack, he said.

The prosecution also presented photographs showing vaginal injuries and one of a bruise on the woman's jaw, and a rape nurse's statement that her injuries were not consistent with consensual sex.

Mackey, though, suggested Winters had no idea when the bruise occurred, and got him to acknowledge that the woman needed no treatment for injuries when she was examined. She also questioned him on whether he saw marks on her neck when he interviewed her the next day.

"She talks on how Mr. Kobe Bryant grabbed her neck and choked her," Mackey told Winters. "You looked at her neck to see?"

Winters said the woman seemed serious when he first interviewed her with her parents at their Eagle home.

Bryant faces up to life in prison if convicted of a felony charge of sexual assault.

Legal experts had expected the defense to waive the hearing and head straight to trial rather than allow prosecutors to lay out their case for the first time _ evidence that will be discussed in public for months.

Gannett had rejected defense requests to have the woman testify and to see her medical records.

The hearing began as hundreds of reporters and a handful of spectators gathered outside the courthouse to catch a glimpse of Bryant as he arrived with his lawyers in a caravan of three SUVs. He said nothing to the crowd.

Bryant had to take off a necklace and was checked with metal detectors before walking into the courtroom.

Bryant, free on $25,000 bond, had been ordered to appear in court for a bond hearing even if the preliminary hearing was waived. He left the Hawaii training camp of the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday.

Bryant has the right to go to trial within six months of entering a plea, but he could agree to push that back until later, perhaps after the NBA season ends early next summer.

Summary Of Accuser's Statement To Det. Doug Winter

Alleged Victim Tells Detective She Was Raped From Behind, Against Chair

POSTED: 3:16 p.m. MDT October 9, 2003

UPDATED: 6:48 p.m. MDT October 9, 2003

Eagle County Detective Doug Winter said he talked to the alleged victim at her parents home and convinced her to be interviewed at the sheriff's department.

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The alleged victim told Winter that she was excited about meeting Bryant, a new guest at the resort. She said that while she was showing Bryant and two people in his entourage up to their rooms, he pulled her aside and asked her to give him a tour of the hotel.

She said there was "mutual flirting" during the tour, Winter said.

She said Bryant invited her back to his room and she went in and sat on a couch while he sat on a chair nearby. They chatted about tattoos and he asked her to show the tattoo she said she had on her ankle. She did. He asked if she wanted to go in the hot tub and she said no.

Winter said that her shift was ending and that she wanted to go home. "She was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable," Winter said.

When she thought she was leaving, she asked for Bryant's autograph in which he replied that he would give it to her later when she came back to his room.


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She said he asked her for a hug and she gave him one and then he began kissing her mouth, her neck -- actions she said she agreed to. She said the kissing lasted about 5 minutes. She said he then began to grope her breasts and butt. He began putting his hand under her panties, and she told him that she had to leave.

She said she was trying to leave when Bryant "grabbed her around the neck," Winter said.

She said that he was trying to block her movement. She said she was afraid and he started to follow her as she moved toward the door. She said that he had both of his hands around her neck and was "controlling her movements."

She said he then bent her over a chair, pulled up black dress and pulled her panties down. She said that she told him that she needed to leave "and at one point, stated 'No,'" Winter said.

She said she began crying when the sexual intercourse started and didn't stop until it was over about 5 minutes later. She said the sex was painful.

She said she told Bryant "No" at least twice. When asked if she was yelling "No" she told Winter that she said "No" in a normal voice. She said he had ignored her.

She said that while the intercourse was occurring he asked, "You're not going to tell anyone, right?" She said no. He asked her to look at him and again confirm that she would not tell anyone. She said she did that because she was afraid he would hurt her even more. She said when the incident was "about to end" she started prying his hands off her neck, and then he stopped.

She said Bryant wasn't holding her neck so tight she couldn't breathe but she was afraid that he was going to choke her.

She said she turned around and pulled up her underwear. The woman said that Bryant forced her to kiss his penis after the attack. She said Bryant asked her to go clean up in the bathroom. She said she was in the bathroom for about 5 minutes, fixing her hair and wiping her face. Before she left, Bryant reminded her that she shouldn't tell anyone and she said she would remain quiet. She said she then went down to the front desk and finished her work and then told the bellman everything that had happened.

Winter said that while he was interviewing her, there was another deputy in the room as well as a victim's advocate. The interview was videotaped but the videotape was not allowed to be submitted in the preliminary hearing because it was deemed too prejudicial. An audiotape of Kobe Bryant's statement was also pulled from the preliminary hearing.

Winter said that before she began telling her story, he told her that if this was a false accusation, that she would be in big trouble. She said that she understood.

Winter said she sounded mad when she was telling him her story.

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