A JURY was today deciding whether a fast-food worker sexually assaulted a woman and tried to drag her down a dark driveway.

They heard the prosecution allege that Ali Kiran, 31, served the 20-year-old woman with chips at Yummy Chicken, in Pavement, York, at 2am on July 4.

Shortly afterwards, as she was walking home, the pair encountered each other again at Layerthorpe traffic lights, where Kiran was returning in a Volvo from a food delivery, York Crown Court heard.

She claimed she accepted a lift from Kiran because he had previously given her and her friends lifts.

"He told the court she asked for the lift.

The woman alleged that when she got out in Heworth, he also got out, and tried pushing her towards a bungalow where it was dark.

"He grabbed my shoulders and started kissing me all over my face. It was hurting me.

"He was touching me all over my body - my breasts.

"He was trying to take my jacket off. I was trying to hit him," she alleged from the witness box.

"I was shouting and telling him to leave me alone".

The woman claimed that Kiran let go and drove away when other people appeared.

"He was trying to rape me. I think if these people hadn't come something more would have happened," she alleged.

Kiran, of Horner Street, Clifton, denies sexual assault.

When he gave evidence, Kiran claimed the woman kissed his cheek and neck when he stopped the car.

They got out and continued kissing, both in the road and on the pavement.

"She was very friendly. She started it, and we were kissing for about five to six minutes," he alleged.

Kiran alleged she changed when people approached, telling him to "Stop" and pushing his hands off her bottom.

Sisters Charlotte and Sharon Guest told the jury they were on their way home from a party, with their friend Clive Nicholson.

"I heard screams and I saw a girl being dragged by her arms into some bushes," said Charlotte.

"She was trying to pull away. It sounded and looked as though someone was in distress.

"I said: 'Are you all right?' She was shouting: 'No.'

"We ran towards the girl and the man ran behind us to his car and drove off. The girl was crying and very shaky."

Mr Nicholson memorised the Volvo registration plate. Police used the number to track down Kiran.

Updated: 09:42 Friday, April 15, 2005