Accused cries as he denies rape in tent
8:55am Thursday 9th February 2012 in News
A27-YEAR-OLD holidaymaker accused of raping a teenager at a camp site cried as he told a court he was innocent.
Michael Aspinall, of Dixon Street, Westhoughton, denies raping the drunken 18-year-old woman, in a tent, at a camp site in Newquay.
Turo Crown Court yesterday heard the defendant and the woman had, by coincidence, been in the same nightclub on July 26, 2010 but had not seen each other before.
When Aspinall arrived back at the site, at 3.30am the following morning, he came across the woman lying on the ground after listening to music and smoking in his car.
Aspinall said: “I spoke to the girl and rubbed her on the shoulder and got no response, only muttering. When the security guards came I suggested putting her into my tent only about ten feet away. We all said she was drunk.
“When I went into my tent I think I disturbed her when I undressed down to my boxer shorts. I put my arm across her and told her that she would be ok, and she eventually responded.
The more I stroked her the more responsive she became.”
He claims they started kissing and cuddling and she consented with what was happening. He said: “I did not do anything she did not want to do. I asked her if she was happy with what was happening and she said ‘yes’. I thought there was no doubt she wanted sex.”
The case continues.
