The jury will decide on Monday the fate of a Warwick man accused of sexually assaulting a Devonshire woman in her home on December 9, 2001.

Yesterday both prosecution and defence gave their closing arguments while on Monday Assistant Justice Archibald Warner will sum up the case before sending the the nine-man, three-woman jury out to deliver their verdict.

Defence counsel Elizabeth Christopher poured doubt on the testimony of the alleged victim - a 41-year-old woman from Devonshire.

She questioned why the woman could not remember whether she had a conversation with the alleged attacker earlier in the night at Club 40 where they met.

The man shared a taxi with the woman plus her friend and then later turned up unannounced at her home.

But Ms Christopher queried why she opened the door which faced the road to let the air in when she could have picked less exposed exits for ventilation. The victim had said she had opened the door and then found the man there who invited himself in.

Ms Christopher said if she was alarmed by the man being in her apartment, she had ample opportunity to alert her family who lived nearby.

The victim testified earlier in the week that after meeting him at the Club 40 the man entered her home without being invited, beat her and then had sex with her without her consent.

The man faces up to life in jail if convicted.

While he admitted having sex with her, the man - who cannot be named for legal reasons - said he did not force the woman to do anything against her wishes.

On Wednesday, he testified that after the couple kissed, they had sex until the woman tried to get him to have anal intercourse with her.

He said when he refused to comply, she swore at him, then slapped him. He admitted that he hit her back several times, but denied holding a knife to her throat, as she had claimed.

Yesterday Ms Christopher said the woman also had ample opportunity to escape but instead had chosen to sit next to him on a love seat despite other chairs being available.

She said the woman could have asked him to leave.

There was no evidence the accused had a knife, said Ms Christopher, and she said the victim had given extensive evidence about the sex even though she said she was in and out of consciousness during that time. She said: "Would she really remember?"

Ms Christopher said there was no medical evidence such as tears to her sexual organs to indicate force. She said reddening of the genitals could have been from normal sexual intercourse.

Ms Christopher said it was significant that when the victim spoke to her mother after the incident she only said she had been assaulted.

"It's very telling she didn't say this man raped me. This man sexually assaulted me. I would submit there was no sexual assault in this case."

Crown counsel Graveney Bannister said the attacker had broken the victim's jaw in three places and dentist Dr. Laidlaw Frasier-Smith had testified that significant force had been used.

He said: "Can you believe what this man (the accused) says. That it was lovey-dovey?"

He said the accused had approached the victim in the club then appeared at the kerb outside. "When the ladies were waiting for a taxi where was he? In the general vicinity, lurking. He helped wave the taxi down, he got in the back of the taxi."

Mr. Bannister said the accused had given various stories of where he was going but then picked a spot 200 yards from the victim's house.

He said: "Because I dance with you, take a taxi and sit close to you and let you in to my house, does that mean I agree to sexual intercourse?"

He said the fact there was no forensic evidence meant nothing.

"He was wearing a condom. Does that mean because he was wearing a condom there was consent? No. This was a cold, calculating act. He imprisoned the victim in her own home."

He said the attacker had trapped her when she went to the bathroom.

Mr. Bannister said the accused, aged 30, had followed the woman all evening before forcefully assaulting her.

He said the fact that the woman had sat next to the accused meant nothing.

"Does sitting next to a person mean consent? How many times in your life have you sat next to a person? Does that mean you consent to sex? No."