Second man denies rape charge

8:17am Saturday 30th August 2008

A second man today denied raping a woman after a drug-fuelled party at her home.

Rajiv Lal, of Frederick Road, Cowley, told the jury at Oxford Crown Court that he did not sleep with the alleged victim, but did engage in some consensual sexual activity.

The 33-year-old, who denies one charge of rape and one of serious sexual assault, said he was in the room when the woman, 21, had sex with his cousin Rakesh Surina, 28.

He denied taking drugs.

Surina, of Howard Street, East Oxford, who denies two charges of rape, told the court he had consensual sex with the woman.

Earlier in the trial, the alleged victim told the court she had not had much energy to resist the men after the party last August because of the quantity of alcohol and drugs she had taken.

In his closing speech, Amjad Malik, prosecuting, said: "That woman, at 10am and thereafter, was a woman who was completely vulnerable.

"Vulnerable because she had taken decisions.

"Decisions she no doubt regrets."

On Thursday, the woman's mother told the jury she had felt uncomfortable about the two men in her daughter's bedroom.

She said she had been going in and out of her daughter's room on the morning of the alleged incident to check she was OK, but she later had to pop out.

The alleged victim said she was drinking and taking cocaine the night before in a Cowley Road bar.

The trial continues.

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