A woman took the stand Thursday in the trial of a man accused of carjacking her and raping her twice in Pensacola last year.
According to testimony, the woman was pumping gas at a Circle K on New Warrington Road early in the morning on March 19, 2019, when Joshua Edwards allegedly pulled a gun and forced her to drive him to Elberta, Alabama.
“I was afraid when we got to the dark wooded area,” the woman testified. When asked why, she said, “Because at that point he was trying to, well, he raped me.”
The woman testified that Edwards had just been released from prison and that he is an alleged member of the Aryan Brotherhood. She said she tried several times to escape during the ordeal.
According to testimony, the woman crashed her blue Mazda 3 into a tree near Bayou Grande hoping to escape. “He said he was going to shoot me and drive my car into the lake,” she said.
The woman testified that Edwards raped her again along Fenceline Road before walking with her to a house where he allegedly carjacked another woman. “I’m looking at her trying to mouth to her to go get help,” the victim said.
Edwards then drove away, leaving the two women behind. The other victim’s mother, Mary Staples, brought the rape victim inside her house and called 911.