The incident dates back to September 2013 when a 21-year-old Eastern European student on the Erasmus exchange programme was raped in Coimbra. The young woman, who had only recently arrived in Portugal, was discovered “barefoot and with evident signs of upset” on a major carriageway at 5.30am. The 21-year-old man charged with her rape has finally gone before Coimbra court “behind closed doors”. The trial opened on Monday.
