A woman identified in court as Jane Doe N.S. told a Santa Barbara County Superior Court jury that she was sexually assaulted the same day she moved to Isla Vista for the first time. 

The jury was shown a photo of Jane Doe N.S. smiling in front of her new loft bed that was taken by her mother just hours before Arian Eteghaei would allegedly assault her in that very bed.

She is the second person to testify in the criminal trial in Santa Barbara against Eteghaei, 23, a former UC Santa Barbara student accused of assaulting six women.

He faces multiple sexual assault charges in connection with the alleged assaults, including forcible rape, attempted rape, forcible sexual penetration by foreign object, forcible oral copulation, false imprisonment by violence, and battery.

He was a first-year student at UC Santa Barbara in 2020-21 and was arrested and criminally charged in August 2021 on suspicion of assaulting three women.

During the investigation, three more women came forward and reported their own assaults, according to authorities. Eteghaei’s ex-girlfriend identified as Jane Doe H.O.C testified in the trial that he raped and assaulted her at a party in June 2021. 

Jane Doe N.S., who testified in court on Friday and Monday, said she knew Eteghaei through a mutual friend and that he visited her at her new home in Isla Vista on Oct. 7, 2020. She invited him to see her room but testified that she made it clear she didn’t want anything sexual to happen between them.

In her room, Jane Doe N.S. testified that Eteghaei tried to pull her onto his lap and that she grabbed the ladder to her loft bed. 

She explained that Eteghaei allegedly stripped down to his boxers and climbed into Jane Doe N.S.’s bed, saying he was going to sleep.

She testified that she felt disrespected and repeatedly asked Eteghaei to leave.

“I was worried that something I didn’t want was going to happen, and I was confused because I thought my words were clear,” Jane Doe N.S. said.

She explained that she repeatedly told him that it was her first night in her new place and she wanted to sleep in her bed alone, but Eteghaei allegedly told her that nothing would happen. 

As it was after midnight and Eteghaei said nothing would happen, Jane Doe N.S. testified that she got into the bed, where she said Eteghaei tried to kiss her, put his hand down her pants and assaulted her. 

She explained that she froze in fear and confusion, and a few times she didn’t stop Eteghaei from kissing her before she would pull back.

When prosecutor Lauren Franco asked her why she didn’t call out for help, Jane Doe N.S. choked up and started crying as she explained she was trying to be nice, and that she’s not a confrontational person and she didn’t want Eteghaei to get mad at her. 

While questioning Jane Doe N.S. on Monday, Andrew Flier, one of Eteghaei’s attorneys, asked why she didn’t stop Eteghaei from reaching into her pants. 

Doe N.S. explained that it happened quickly and she “froze,” but she made it clear throughout the night that she didn’t want to do anything sexual with him. 

Flier also asked if she specifically told Eteghaei that he couldn’t touch her vagina, to which she said she didn’t specifically tell him not to do that.

“I gave him plenty of notice not to touch me,” Jane Doe N.S. testified. 

She explained that after Eteghaei allegedly assaulted her, she kept trying to get him to leave and eventually offered to drop him off at Deja Vu Cafe in Isla Vista. 

The jury was shown text messages that Jane Doe N.S. sent to her friend, Derek Lopez, complaining that Eteghaei wouldn’t leave her room and kept touching her as she said no. 

After she dropped off Eteghaei, she texted Lopez again, saying: “I finally got rid of him. Bro I’m literally never talking to Arian again.”

The jury also saw a video of Jane Doe N.S. that was taken the morning after the alleged assault as she was secretly listening to a phone conversation between Eteghaei and Lopez. 

As the video played in court, the jury could hear Eteghaei explaining that he remembered only portions of the night, but nothing specific, and he didn’t know whether they kissed or whether she got into the bed with him.

The video showed Jane Doe N.S. smiling and laughing while listening to the conversation. She explained that she laughs when she’s uncomfortable and that she thought it was “ridiculous” that Eteghaei was saying he didn’t remember what happened. 

Even though Eteghaei met up with her after attending a party, Jane Doe N.S. testified that he was “not even close” to black-out drunk, he was not slurring his words nor was he stumbling while walking around. 

She reported the assault to UC Santa Barbara’s Title IX Office on Oct. 28, 2020, and later made a report to law enforcement on July 14, 2021, after the Title IX Office told her that another woman, Jane Doe H.O.C., reported that Eteghaei assaulted her. 

When Jane Doe N.S. first reported what happened to law enforcement, she didn’t admit to getting into the bed with Eteghaei but reported that the assault happened in the middle of her room. She later told the full story to investigators in August 2024. 

Jane Doe N.S. testified that she was embarrassed to admit that she climbed into the bed.

The trial is expected to continue on Thursday.