A nurse could testify today that injuries she found on an Ohio University student could have been caused by rape, if a county judge permits her testimony.
Prosecutors say Matthew Kulchar, 21, of Dublin, raped a female classmate for several hours on Sept. 28, 2008 in her Boyd Hall room. A grand jury indicted Kulchar for rape, kidnapping and tampering with evidence last fall.
The nurse, Karen Robinson of O'Bleness Memorial Hospital, who examined the woman told the jury Friday that she found a one-centimeter tear inside the woman's vagina.
During the nurse's testimony, Chief Assistant County Prosecutor Robert Driscoll asked the nurse whether the tear indicated sexual assault. Before she could answer, Kulchar's attorney, Robert Toy, objected, saying the nurse was not qualified to diagnose the injury.
To decide if the nurse could answer, the judge sent the jury out of the courtroom while he heard the nurse's information. The nurse told the judge it was likely the tear resulted from rape.
If the judge decides the nurse can testify, she will return to court today.
As policy, The Post doesn't name people who report they have been sexually assaulted.
Toy, who has argued the sex was consensual, told the jury last week a doctor would testify that the woman had no physical signs of rape.
A close friend of the woman also told the jury Friday she received a text message saying Help me
(Kulchar) won't let me leave from the woman during a brief lull in Kulchar's assault.
The woman testified last week that she tried to contact her friend when Kulchar went to the bathroom, but didn't know if she received the message.
I remember thinking that I should probably contact her and make sure she was OK the friend said, adding that she didn't contact her until the next day.
Toy later pointed out to the friend she had told investigators in June the message read Help me he won't leave. The friend responded she didn't mention Kulchar by name, because she thought it was obvious whom she meant.
The friend later admitted she had no record of the actual message, hadn't mentioned the message to police before June, did not know Kulchar in September 2008 and had discussed the case and her testimony with her friend, the woman, before coming to trial.
Despite further questions from Toy, the friend maintained that the message read Help me
(Kulchar) won't let me leave.
In addition to rape, Kulchar is charged with kidnapping, which requires that a person restrain the liberty of another to be guilty.
If Kulchar would not let the woman leave her room, he could be guilty of kidnapping. If he simply refused to leave, he might not have actually restrained her liberty.
Prosecutors expect the trial to end tomorrow.
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Frank Thomas
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Matthew Kulchar
