3 Testify at Hearing for Man Accused of Rapes

A woman and a teen-age girl testified in San Fernando Municipal Court on Monday that Brett Dale Girard, a 38-year-old Studio City man, attacked and raped them in separate incidents last July.

Another woman said Girard assaulted her in her car before she fought free and escaped.

Girard, who was arrested Sept. 1, 1988, is charged with two counts of rape, one count of kidnapping, car theft, robbery and multiple counts of sexual assault, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Bilus. If convicted, Girard could face up to 90 years in prison, Bilus said.

Monday, a 26-year-old Van Nuys woman testified at a preliminary hearing in San Fernando Municipal Court that Girard raped and assaulted her after she gave him a ride home July 31.

Customer at Bar

The woman said she knew Girard as a customer at a bar where she worked in Sherman Oaks. During a visit to her house, Girard asked the woman if she could drive him home because he had had too much to drink, and she agreed, the witness testified.

Once they arrived at the defendant’s house, he punched her in the face several times, pulled a knife and proceeded to rape her, she said.

Another witness, a 15-year-old Van Nuys girl, said she had met Girard through a friend. She said that when she agreed to accompany him to a liquor store in her neighborhood July 15, he took her to a remote area of the Santa Susana Pass and raped her at knifepoint.

The third witness, a 34-year-old Valencia woman, testified that she had gone to a Mission Hills bar with Girard on July 20. She said he asked her to drive him home because he had had too much to drink. Later, during a brief struggle in the woman’s car, the woman said that she managed to get away but that Girard escaped with her car. After an investigation of the attacks, a warrant was issued for Girard’s arrest.

Girard, who remains in custody on $200,000 bail, was ordered back to court April 24 for a pretrial conference.