A woman has told a court that two men sexually assaulted her in a Cornish churchyard after she was separated from her friends on a drunken night out.

Before Truro Crown Court on trial are Calvin Rosevear, from Mullion, and Joe Skewes, from Helston.

They are charged with a total of six offences relating to an alleged incident in Helston during the early hours of July 9 last year.

Rosevear is charged with rape involving penetration of the mouth, and additionally with sexual assault.

Skewes is charged with three counts of sexual assault and one of assault by penetration using fingers.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The offences are alleged to have taken place in St Michael’s Churchyard.

Prosecutor Jason Beal set out the circumstances of the prosecution case, saying that the complainant had been for a night out with friends in Helston during the evening of Saturday, July 8, visiting a number of pubs.

The complainant had drunk a large amount of alcohol by the time she got to The Beehive in Coinagehall Street, and continued drinking further.

During the early hours of Sunday, July 9 she began to feel ill, so stepped outside with a friend for some fresh air.

Mr Beal said the pair crossed the road towards the steps leading down to Church Street. By now it was just before 2am.

She began to be sick and at one point fell, putting her hand down and breaking a nail, he said.

Mr Beal said two men were also in the area of the steps, later identified as the defendants.

They were not known to the complainant before that night, with the woman describing them to police as “the brunette one” and “the blond one.” The prosecution say the brunette man was Rosevear and the blond man was Skewes.

The complainant sat between the two men on the steps and her friend went back into The Beehive to look for another friend.

Mr Beal said Rosevear began “making small talk” with the woman, but that Skewes was “staring at her breasts and telling her that she was fit.”

“Mr Rosevear asked her whether she had ever had a threesome and she said she had not. At one stage Mr Skewes pulled one of her breasts out her top,” added Mr Beal.

“They said they knew her friends; they were dropping names into the conversation. The prosecution say it was as though they wanted her to feel comfortable and safe in their presence.”

The prosecutor went on to say: “They told her that her friend had gone off to a house party and they were going to that party. In her drunk and confused state [the complainant] couldn’t understand why [the friend] had left her and she agreed to go off with the two men, thinking she was going to the party where her friends were.”

The trio began walking along Church Street. The complainant described to police that Skewes was “latched on to me”, adding: “He was like a hungry animal.”

At one point they reached an alleyway, which the woman claimed Skewes pulled her into and started kissing her.

She told a police interview that at that stage she did not feel in any danger but told him “It’s not going to happen” and laughed.

She said Rosevear had “a grip on my hand” as he walked her along the street and “he squeezed really hard.”

At one point the woman said she couldn’t see properly she was so dizzy and kept tripping, with the defendants helping her walk.

“She asked where they were going and Mr Rosevear said they were going to find [the friend],” said Mr Beal.

They entered the churchyard of St Michael’s Church and the woman described Rosevear sitting on a bench and Skewes going to kiss her. She told police she tasted the drug “ket” [ketamine] in his mouth.

Rosevear then lay on the ground, telling her he was tired. The woman said she bent down to pick her up bag from the floor but Skewes came up to her from behind and she fell forwards.

She told police both men then sexually assaulted her.

“It was like I couldn’t feel anything. I feel like I went in to shock at this happening. I didn’t know what to do, I had no control over my body,” she said.

The woman described drifting out of consciousness and believed that at one point she passed out.

Mr Beal said that as this was happening a woman and her boyfriend had entered the churchyard, walking home from a night out.

The woman told police she saw a girl with two men who she believed were “engaged in some sort of sexual activity.”

Initially they carried on walking past, but quickly returned as she “thought there was something not right about what she had seen.”

She described the woman with the men as “upset and crying”, and asked what was going on.

“[The complainant], thinking she was going to be in trouble, said she hadn’t been doing anything,” said Mr Beal.

The boyfriend of the female passerby told Rosevear and Skewes he was going to call the police.

“Mr Rosevear said words to the effect of ‘She was up for it’ and Mr Skewes said ‘She wanted it’,” said Mr Beal.

The man and the woman walked the complainant back to The Beehive, where they found the friend still inside.

Mr Beal said phone records showed two missed Snapchat calls from the complainant to her friend at 2.10am and 2.27am, along with a number of confused messages – with Mr Beal telling the jury that regarding the last message “Was it an attempt to write the word ‘Help’?”

The next morning the complainant contacted police to report what had happened.

She told police in interview that “They were like a tag team. They knew what they wanted to do and as a woman in that situation I was taken advantage of. I was drunk.”

Mr Beal said when being arrested Rosevear made the comment “I only touched her boobs.”

Rosevear and Skewes were interviewed separately. Rosevear said that the woman had come to sit with them after her friend went back into the pub. He described her as “upbeat and flirty”.

Mr Beal said Rosevear had told police he had asked the woman “Do you fancy a bit of fun with us?” and she replied “Absolutely”. He described this as a “spur of the moment thing.”

The prosecutor said Rosevear had told police the woman had sent text messages to friends saying where she was going, and they went to the churchyard.

“He described how there was a ‘kiss and fumbling’, which he later explained as touching and sucking her breasts,” said Mr Beal, who added that Rosevear told police he took his penis out.

Rosevear told police it had only been a few minutes when two people came up to them and “basically dragged [the complainant] down the steps and away she went”.

He told officers what happened was “massively consensual”.

He denied she had been crying at any stage or any reference to a house party.

He told police the woman had been drinking but “wasn’t out of it” and if she had been he wouldn’t have been talking to her.

According to Mr Beal, Skewes told police: “Calvin was stood up and said ‘Would you like a threesome’ and couldn’t believe it when she said yes. She was talking and texting her friends while walking.”

Skewes told police it was “totally consensual” what had happened, added the prosecutor.

The trial continues.