WESTFIELD – A Southwick man was charged with rape after a woman he was on a date with told police that when she told him during a sexual encounter to stop at least four times, he continued, according to a police report of the incident.
Nathanial Podmore, 22, of Fred Jackson Road, Southwick, was arraigned in District Court on Jan. 29 in connection with the single charge after being arrested the day before, according to court records.
The victim told police that her initial encounter with Podmore was after they met on a dating app in November and that she was not interested in him at the time.
In January, she told police Podmore asked to meet up with her using the messaging app Snapchat.
She initially said no, but then changed her mind and agreed to meet up with him the next day, she told investigators.
The victim told investigators that Podmore picked her up in Springfield and drove her back to his residence on Fred Jackson Road.
It wasn’t long after they arrived, she told investigators, that Podmore began pressuring her to have sex.
She rejected him several times, she told investigators.
He didn’t stop making advances while they were eating fast food and watching television, she said.
The victim told investigators that Podmore didn’t want to drive her back to Springfield because of the impending snowstorm, so she agreed to spend the night.
Both were in bed, she sitting up, and he lying down, when he started kissing her, which eventually led to her agreeing to have sex, but she told investigators that during it, she told him to stop at least four times, and he didn’t.
When it was over, she said Podmore threw her a towel, and he began to get dressed.
She said Podmore sensed she wasn’t happy and asked her if she liked it. She told investigators she told him no.
He then attempted to confirm that the sex had been consensual. She said it wasn’t and that she didn’t want to do it, she told investigators.
At that point, Podmore decided to drive her back to Springfield.
On the drive back, the victim said he tried to convince her the encounter was consensual.
She told him she didn’t want to talk about it.
When she got back to her residence, she told her roommate what had happened. The roommate said she had been raped and needed to report it, which she did before being taken by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center.
When Podmore was arraigned on Jan. 29, he pleaded not guilty, according to court records.
District Court Judge Tina Cafaro ordered Podmore held in lieu of posting $1,000 cash, which he did.
When released, he was ordered to stay away from the victim and her residence, according to court records.
He will return to court on a pretrial hearing on March 13.
