A BARWORKER accused of raping an undergraduate in a York courtyard at night has claimed he stopped having sex with her as soon as she objected.

Simon Christopher Nunns said, since the woman made her allegations, he had lost both his job at the Ha! Ha! club in New Street and his accommodation, while his relationship had broken up, though he and his former partner were still on good terms.

Nunns denied allegations that he knew the camera belonging to Ha! Ha! which overlooked Judges Court, off Coney Street, was not working on the night of the alleged rape and that he forced himself on the woman.

Nunns, 29, then of Hampden Street, Bishophill, denies three charges of rape.

Giving evidence, he alleged the woman consented to sex in Judges Court at about 4am on November 10, claiming that it was she who undid his trousers.

He said she did not object, but at one point, she said: “I don’t like that. Why did you do that? I don’t like it that way.”

He claimed he stopped and apologised to her. She then left “at a great pace” down the alleyway that led to Coney Street.

He claimed he took the woman into Judges Court so she could sit down after she started shivering in Coney Street as he took her to find a taxi. In the courtyard, she set off down an alleyway where she slipped and fell over.

Nunns alleged he helped her up and she sat on a wall for a couple of minutes. He was concerned about a large necklace she was wearing, in case she fell over again and caught it on something, so he put it in his jacket pocket.

As they set off from the wall, he had his hand on her bottom to help her if she fell again. When she slipped, he supported her with both hands, and they came face-to-face and started kissing.

He claimed the kissing “just happened” although neither had mentioned kissing before and they had never seen each other before that night. The kissing led to sex.

The trial continues