Victim recounts horrific coffeehouse rape

Christopher Reeves, the tall, lanky, homeless man charged with attacking a female employee inside a Bella Vista coffee shop March 31, was held for trial on rape and related charges today.

Municipal Judge James DeLeon made that decision after Reeves' alleged victim testified during a preliminary hearing about the incident that unfolded inside the Bean Exchange Coffeehouse at 7th and Bainbridge streets.

The woman, 29, recounted how Reeves, 32, played the nice guy just minutes before the attack.

After walking into the shop shortly after 6 a.m., she said, Reeves introduced himself - using his real first name - and made small talk for about five minutes.

"He said I had pretty eyes," recalled the woman, who said he also asked for money to take a bus back to his homeless shelter.

She gave him one dollar from her tip jar but refused to give more when he protested that he needed $2.75 to take the bus, she said.

Over the next several minutes the woman recounted that Reeves went to the bathroom, came out quickly and blew his nose on Kleenex tissue, left the shop for two minutes and returned to announce "a stick up."

Though she didn't see a gun, she said, she could not see his right hand. Filled with terror, she decided to comply when Reeves told her to run to the shop's bathroom.

She locked the door, but he broke in, shoved her head wrap into her mouth, raped her and forced her to perform oral sex, the woman said.

He repeatedly called her names and told her to shut up when she began to cry, said the woman, who eventually managed to escape and ran onto Bainbridge Street where a man saw her and called the police.

Reeves, who stands about 6-foot-5, was handcuffed during the hearing. When Assistant District Attorney Michael Stackow asked the woman if she could identify her attacker, she pointed to Reeves.

He scowled, and grumbled to his attorney Mythri Jayaraman: "I'm the only one in here with handcuffs on!"

Jayaraman said she expects that Reeves will plead not guilty. He is being held on $300,000 bail.