A Kosovan soldier has appeared in court accused of raping and sexually assaulting a woman he met on a night out in Norwich.
Bali Hoxha, 29, was in the UK training Ukrainian soldiers at the time of the incident, which happened towards midnight on September 17 or in the early hours of September 18, 2025.
Grace Ong, prosecuting, said Hoxha and the woman “weren’t previously known to each other, they were strangers” when they met outside a fast-food shop in the city.
She told jurors at Norwich Crown Court that the defendant “took advantage” of the woman, who described her level of intoxication as seven out of 10, “took her to a secluded place in Norwich, removed her clothing and raped her”.
She said the woman had had dinner with friends earlier in the evening and been “to a couple of bars before coming across the defendant”.
She said the woman - described only as "in her 20s" - “wasn’t drunk but was slightly the worse for wear for drink”.
“The defence will be, I anticipate, that (the woman) consented to all of this activity and was fully willing to take part in the sexual encounter between her and the defendant,” Ms Ong said.
“The prosecution case is quite the contrary – that she didn’t want any sexual activity with the defendant.”
She said that as the woman was on her way home and “she was walking past a kebab shop, or a takeaway”.
“She saw this defendant outside that shop, he said ‘hi’, to her and she said ‘hi’ back and thereupon he kept, we say the prosecution, talking to her,” Ms Ong said.
She said the defendant offered the woman some chicken and the woman ate a bit.
“(The woman) didn’t think it would go any further and decided to carry on walking again as it was getting late and she was tired,” Ms Ong said.
She said the defendant “kept following” the woman, “kept trying to talk to her and put his arm around her and say things like ‘I really like the way you look’ and ‘you’re really pretty’.”
Ms Ong said Hoxha, of West Tofts Camp near Thetford, “pushed (the woman) down to the grass” near the river close to Norwich Railway Station and got on top of her and allegedly raped her.
The woman said, in a police video interview played to jurors, that the area was “dark, it felt a bit sketchy”.
She said the man pulled her down and “he was a pretty big guy so I couldn’t really get him off”.
She said that at one point he spat at her.
“I don’t know why he did it – I didn’t ask him to do it,” she said.
She said it went near her mouth, adding: “It just felt inhumane.”
Ms Ong said Hoxha had told the woman to “put her shoes and trousers back on”, and was “saying things like ‘are we going to f*** at your house’”.
She said the woman told him “you’re not coming round my house”.
She said the woman later saw two people and “yelled help and ran towards them and managed to get the defendant’s arm off her”.
She went to sleep and then, after speaking with her sister, she reported the incident to police.
Ms Ong said CCTV footage was studied, but cameras do not cover the incident where the alleged rape happened.
Hoxha has pleaded not guilty to rape and to two counts of sexual assault.
The trial, expected to last around five days, continues.
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