THOUSAND OAKS : Man’s Trial on Rape Charge Postponed

The trial of a Thousand Oaks man accused of raping a 14-year-old girl was postponed Thursday after the man’s attorney questioned his mental competency.

Raul Oscar Alamar, 31, has been charged with kidnaping, assault, rape, oral copulation and other charges stemming from the Oct. 26 abduction of an Oxnard girl from Mandalay State Beach.

Investigators say he and another man kidnaped the girl at gunpoint as she sat in a parked car with her boyfriend about 12:30 a.m. During the next four hours, the pair forced the girl to take cocaine, raped her and locked her in the trunk of their car, according to investigators’ sworn statements. After dropping off the other man, Alamar drove the girl home, apologized and asked her for a date, investigators said. She took down the car’s license number and called police, who arrested Alamar that night.

Alamar was indicted by the Ventura County grand jury on Nov. 23. The other man remains at large.

Alamar’s trial was scheduled to begin next month, but on Thursday, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles R. McGrath suspended the criminal case at the request of Alamar’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Gary Windom. After three meetings with Alamar, Windom said he had doubts about his client’s mental state.

McGrath appointed a psychiatrist to examine Alamar and scheduled a hearing Jan. 21 to decide whether the man is competent to stand trial. If Alamar is deemed unable to stand trial, he would be housed in a mental facility until he was found competent. He remains in Ventura County Jail with bail set at $250,000.