Crime
Former town mayor on trial for rape
Former town mayor Aigars Balsevics has gone on trial accused of rape.
Balsevics, mayor of Wisbech in 2020/2021, and a town councillor, is accused of raping a woman twice on May 24, 2021.
The trial began on Wednesday (October 19) and continues Thursday at Peterborough Crown Court.
Balsevics denies both charges and agrees he had sex with the woman, but it was consensual.
Opening prosecution statements claim Balsevics forcibly undressed and raped the woman despite her trying to stop him.
The court heard that in a police interview, the woman tells how she “couldn’t get away from him; I tried to escape”.
Jurors were told the woman eventually contacted a friend and two men came to her home to remove the defendant and drop him off at his home.
Balsevics, of Burcroft Road, Wisbech, was suspended from the Conservative Party after he was charged but he remains an independent member of Wisbech town council.
An emergency meeting of the North East Cambs Conservative Association (NECCA) executive committee was convened remotely to discuss the issue in January.
With regional Tory association officials taking part, the decision was taken to suspend Balsevics with immediate effect.
Born in Latvia, Balsevics came to the UK in 2003 and in 2016 became a town councillor in Wisbech where he runs three public houses and an entertainment management business.
He is also a registered HMO (housing in multiple occupation) provider.
In 2018 he became deputy mayor of the Conservative controlled town council and a year later became mayor, the first Eastern European to become mayor of an English town.
