Skegness rape accused says woman 'came on' to him

The attack is said to have happened in Skegness's Tower Gardens

A man accused of raping a woman in a Skegness park told police "she came on to me", a court has heard.

Saad Gomaa, 34, is accused of raping the woman in Tower Gardens on the evening of 9 June.

A jury at Lincoln Crown Court heard the woman had kissed and hugged the defendant and appeared "very happy" during "consensual" sex.

However, prosecutors said the woman was drunk and was in "no fit state" to consent to anything.

On the third day of his trial, Mr Gomaa's alleged victim said she told him she did not want sex, but could remember only snippets of the hours leading up to the incident.

She told the jury: "I was extremely drunk. I don't actually remember leaving home."

The woman said viewing CCTV showing her with Mr Gomaa shortly before the alleged rape was like "watching strangers".

Asked what she had said to Mr Gomaa, she told the court: "I was saying I don't want sex, I don't want to do this.

"I was in no fit state."

'Walked away'

Jurors were told Mr Gomaa, an Egyptian national, was on Home Office bail and living at a hotel in the resort at the time of the alleged attack, having arrived from France by sea with other migrants about 40 days earlier.

Extracts from a police interview with the defendant were read out in court, having been translated by an Arabic interpreter.

Mr Gomaa told police: "A female approached me and asked me for a cigarette. I was in the park when she started speaking to me in English.

"It was consensual sex. She came on to me.

"I told her I don't speak English but I understand one word - cigarette. So I rolled her a cigarette and gave it to her."

He said: "She was like crying and started to hug me. I felt she wanted sex. I walked away and then she followed me.

"We were sitting on a bench. We had sex. It was mutual and she wanted it. She started to hug me and kiss me - I did the same."

The trial continues.