UK rapper Yung Filly has told a court that the “vibes were good” between him and a woman he is accused of raping after performing at a nightclub in Australia in 2024.
The rapper, whose real name is Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos, took the witness stand at the District Court of Western Australia on Monday – a week after the start of his trial.
He is accused of sexually assaulting the woman, then 20 years old, in his hotel room after he performed in Hillarys, a coastal suburb of Perth.
Barrientos, 30, has pleaded not guilty to six counts of sexual penetration without consent, three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, and one count of strangulation.
Barrientos told the court he had “fancied” the woman when they met at the concert venue. He had been in the VIP area while she leaned over the barrier from the general area.
He denied touching her inappropriately.
“I recall putting my hand on her waist,” he told the court. But he said he had not put his hands down her pants or touched her breast.
The “vibes were good” between them later when they arrived at his hotel, Barrientos said.
His security guard took the woman’s phone away – a “standard practice” to protect their privacy, according to Barrientos.
The court heard previously that the pair had engaged in consensual sex before Barrientos turned violent and she told him to stop.
Barrientos, who had been touring Australia at the time of the alleged offences, is also known for his work with the YouTube collective Beta Squad, and has appeared in the celebrity version of Bake Off on Channel 4 and presented BBC Three shows.
He has been on bail since being charged and was allowed to fly home to the UK in September for four months, before returning to Western Australia ahead of his trial.
In addition to his 1.8 million YouTube subscribers, he has three million followers on TikTok and and 2.4 million on Instagram.
