A MAN accused of raping a clubber in an alleyway told jurors that the sexual activity between them, both inside the club and at a nearby alleyway, was consensual.
Suranga Wijethunga, of Speedwell Street, Oxford, denies one count of rape and another of engaging in sexual activity with the woman, who cannot be named for legal reason, in the early hours of June 18 last year.
The 32-year old is alleged to have led the woman out of Atik nightclub in Oxford before raping her in a nearby alleyway.
Taking to the witness box as his trial at Oxford Crown Court continued yesterday, he told jurors that when they first met inside the club the woman smiled at him and they danced together.
The trainee electrician said: “She was just looking at me, I was dancing close just in front [of her].
“She was looking at me and smiling at me, I smiled back. I thought she had just given me a smile like as a friend, I didn’t know what it meant.”
Wijethunga said shortly after that they kissed, before later leaving the club and walking to a nearby alleyway where they had consensual sex.
He added that at no point did she tell him to stop or say that she did not consent.
Prosecutors maintain that Wijethunga forced himself upon the woman after she became separated from her friends outside the packed nightclub.
The trial continues.
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