The high-profile sexual assault trial of British rapper and social media influencer Yung Filly, real name Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos, has reached its closing stages, with prosecutors and the defense laying out starkly conflicting accounts of the 2024 alleged incident at a luxury Perth hotel. Prosecutors have painted the entertainer as a fame-entitled figure who acted with brutal disregard for the boundaries of a 20-year-old fan he is accused of violently raping following a performance in Western Australia.
Leading the prosecution, barrister Danielle Clarke delivered her final address to the WA District Court, arguing that Barrientos showed no concern for the young woman he is alleged to have attacked inside Perth’s Intercontinental Hotel. Clarke emphasized the limited interaction the rapper had with the accuser before the alleged assault – just a brief encounter in a nightclub VIP area and a walk through the hotel lobby – to highlight his alleged indifference to her autonomy. “When you consider the very little time Mr Barrientos spent with her in the VIP section and walking with her in the (hotel) lobby before biting and strangling her, not only did (he) spend no time with her, he simply did not care,” Clarke told the court.
Clarke pushed back against any narrative that frames the incident as a consensual sexual encounter gone misunderstood, stressing that the accuser never agreed to violent, non-consensual acts. “He is here because what could have been and should have been consensual sex quickly escalated into sexual violence and a nightmare for (the woman),” she said. “Everyone has the right to say no … she certainly did not want to engage in sexual acts with him that involved violence and brutality.”
Barrientos, who boasts more than 2.4 million followers across his social media platforms including YouTube, has pleaded not guilty to a total of 10 charges covering sexual assault, common assault, and choking. The rapper took the stand in his own defense earlier in the trial, telling the court that all sexual activity between him and the accuser was fully consensual, and that she never communicated any desire for him to stop.
Barrientos told the court he was attracted to the young woman when they met at Perth’s Bar1 Nightclub at Hillary’s Boat Harbour, and extended an invitation for her to return to his hotel, clarifying that his intention was to pursue sex but that he would not have forced the encounter if she declined. When pressed by Clarke on whether he had assumed her attention as a fan meant she would automatically agree to sex, Barrientos replied: “No, I would never assume that. I invited her to my (hotel), that invite was just an invite. Like I said, my intention was to have sex.” He also denied prosecutors’ claims that he sexually touched the accuser in the VIP area, including allegations that he placed his hands down her pants and touched her breasts during their 10-minute conversation.
The rapper acknowledged he never discussed sexual boundaries or limitations with the accuser before they became intimate, but framed that as a mutual omission, noting “she didn’t ask me either.” Barrientos added that during the encounter, the woman gave every indication of enjoying the activity, saying: “She was kissing, she made sexual noises, grunting and moaning in a good way.” He confirmed he left “love bites” on her body, admitting some of the marks were more intense than others, and pushed back against the prosecution’s claims of violent assault, noting that any rough activity was consensual. Responding to the accuser’s claim that his bodyguard confiscated her phone during the trip to the hotel, Barrientos explained the action was a standard privacy measure for him during public appearances.
The accuser, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court she believed she was heading to a group after-party with Barrientos and his team when she left the nightclub, only to end up alone with the rapper in his hotel room. She testified that what began as consensual sexual activity quickly turned violent, alleging Barrientos bit, struck, and strangled her during the attack. Following the incident, the woman sought treatment at a hospital emergency department, where she received a tetanus shot for multiple injuries including widespread bruising, swelling, bite marks, and open wounds to her face, neck, and breasts.
As the trial moves forward, both sides have wrapped their core arguments, and the court is set to proceed to the next phase of the proceedings.