Accused (35) raped his ex-fiancee on two occasions, trial told

A 35-YEAR-OLD man has gone on trial accused of raping his fiancee twice during their relationship.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the complainant, has been charged with raping his then fiancee once while she slept and on another occasion after they had an argument.

A jury at Belfast Crown Court heard it was the prosecution’s case that both alleged sexual assaults took place in the couple’s apartment in the Malone area of Belfast between May 2013 and April 2014.

Opening the Crown case, prosecuting barrister David McDowell QC said the couple lived with each other and were engaged.

Around the time of the first alcouple leged rape, which the Crown says occurred in the summer of 2013, the woman went to a friend’s house where she enjoyed a few drinks before being picked up by her partner.

When she got home she took some medication which — combined with the drink she had taken — made her fall into a deep sleep. Telling the jury the medication effectively knocked the woman out, Mr McDowell said that when she woke up the next morning she suspected that there had been sexual activity.

When the woman asked her partner if they had sex the evening before, he is alleged to have told her: “Yeah, sure you just lay there and you loved it.”

The second alleged rape, the Crown says, happened during the Easter holidays in April 2014.

The court heard that during Easter 2014 things between the were “not good” and that on the day in question, April 18, they had rowed about money and other issues. At one stage police were called by the woman’s mother after she became concerned following a telephone conversation.

It is the Crown’s case that the accused came into the living room and asked why the police had called. The woman claimed that at this point he started kissing her. She said she asked him to leave her alone, but that he got her on the floor and had sex with her — despite her trying to push him off and asking him to stop.

Following his arrest the accused said: “I don’t believe this is happening.”

When questioned, he denied he had ever had non-consensual sex with the complainant, and categorically denied raping her.

At hearing