THE sister of a woman allegedly beaten and raped by a violent pimp has told how she changed after she fell into the grip of drug addiction.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she had seen her older sister covered in cuts and bruises on a number of occasions after being attacked by Junior Bryan.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the then-teenager saw her sister with two black eyes, lumps on her head and clumps of hair missing after she refused to go out on "the game" for the defendant.

The woman told jurors that her sister stopped taking care in her personal appearance after she started working as a prostitute and became dependant on crack cocaine and heroin.

When asked whether she had actually seen any injuries her sister had allegedly suffered at the hands of Bryan, known as 'JC', she said: “Yes, when she was living in the bedsit she rang for me, she couldn’t go home because of the state she was in.

“She had black eyes, lumps on her head, hair missing and bruises on her body. When I asked her what happened, she said that JC had beaten her.”

When asked how often she had seen her sister in that state, she replied: “I saw her with bruises five or six times over a long period of time.”

The witness was asked if she knew how her sister suffered the injuries, she said: “She just said she had got beaten by JC for not doing as she was told.”

Earlier in the trial, jurors heard that the first complainant had Bryan had met in Middlesbrough's Club Bongo nightclub, pictured below, in the 1990s. They were told he got the woman addicted to crack cocaine, forced her into to prostitution to pay for her drugs and would beat her if she refused.

The Northern Echo:

Bryan is accused of raping the woman on a number of occasions while he was her pimp, the court heard.

The 63-year-old, of Marton Road, Middlesbrough, is facing 32 charges, including multiple alleged rapes, false imprisonment, dealing Class A drugs and living off the earnings of prostitution.

The trial continues.