Albion footballer George Barker said he exposed himself while posing for pictures with an unconscious girl to amuse his teammates.
The Brighton and Hove Albion player was the first of the four footballers accused of sexual assault and voyeurism to give his account of the events of July 16, 2011, to a jury at the Old Bailey yesterday (January 28).
Barker, 21, told the court Anton Rodgers had been the first to expose himself and pose for pictures.
But he said he then copied his teammate.
He said: “Anton did it and made the boys laugh so I thought I would do it as well.”
He said he remembered four photos being taken including one shown to the jury in which he was posing over the 19-year-old woman’s body.
However he said he had lied to police about how many pictures he had seen because he was “embarrassed” about his involvement.
He told the jury: “I remember someone suggesting we should take photos.
“I don’t know who suggested it.”
Unconscious
Barker told the court the victim – who cannot be named for legal reasons – had come back to the hotel room at the Jury’s Inn where he was already in bed and had then kissed him and Rodgers.
He said he had also seen the victim kissing another Albion player, Roland Bergkamp, in the Lola Lo nightclub in East Street earlier that evening.
Under cross examination by Richard Barton for the prosecution, Barker admitted the photographs were taken while the victim was unconscious and unable to consent.
Mr Barton said: “It was part of the joke that she was asleep when they were taken.”
Barker agreed.
Humiliation
Mr Barton added: “The purpose of those photos was to humiliate her.
“And all of you in the dock were in that together thinking it was a great laugh.
“And that last photo you kept as a trophy.”
Barker, Rodgers, Dunk and Cook all deny sexual assault and voyeurism.
The trial continues.
Follow proceedings every day with The Argus live updates.
See all stories relating to the trial in a dedicated section of The Argus website.
The trial so far
Anton Rodgers, George Barker, Lewis Dunk and Steve Cook "deliberately humiliated” a 19-year-old woman for their own sexual gratification, the Old Bailey was told last week.
The footballers – drunk on a night out celebrating the first match at the new American Express Community Stadium in July 2011– performed degrading sex acts on the unconscious teenager at the Jurys Inn hotel in Brighton and took photographs as trophies of their actions, the court was told.
Richard Barton, prosecuting, described the players as a “group of arrogant young men”.
The woman said she felt ashamed and embarrassed after seeing photos on Rodgers' phone and within a few months “everyone” at the football club had seen the images.
She was later branded a “prolific liar” who had sought relationships with footballers.
On Thursday the jury heard from the victim's friends and boss. The court was told that she had "feared what everyone would think of her" and that she looked like she had "been through something bad".
On Friday Albion player Ben Sampayo said he had been woken up by his teammates “giggling” and
showing him photos of themselves exposed on the night in question.
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