A Devonshire man was yesterday cleared of serious sexual assault charges in the Supreme Court.

The man who cannot be named for legal reasons, did not testify during the three-day trial in which he stood accused accused of raping and punching a 19-year-old woman in his bathroom on December 5 last year.

The 19-year-old said the defendant manhandled her from a friend's home to his home on the same road, ran her a bath and after she bathed he forced himself on her.

While defence lawyer Mark Pettingill did not challenge that the pair had sex, he questioned the woman's story and the lack of physical injuries to support the allegations against his client.

"It just doesn't add up," he said.

Under cross-examination on Monday, Mr. Pettingill said: "You're telling me this guy, you don't really know, basically forced you along (the road), forced you up the steps to his house, ran a bath for you and you're going to take your clothes off and have a bath?"

In addition, the woman said the defendant struck her in the face, causing her nose to bleed.

But Mr. Pettingill pointed out the lack of blood in the bathroom and the lack of a prosecution witness, like a doctor, to support injuries relating to a serious sexual assault such as bruising or scratches. He said that if a woman was snatched away, there would be a struggle and the lack of physical evidence did not support such a struggle.

Crown counsel Charmaine Smith asked the jury to look at three points of the case; the woman's demeanour, her actions and the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The alleged victim gave a tearful testimony on Monday.

Mrs. Smith said: "Giving up is not consensual, submission is not consensual. We're not here to accept what should have been done, hindsight is always 20/20."

When the woman gave testimony on Monday, she said that she was homeless at the time, living with her boyfriend wherever they could find accommodation.

When they ran across the defendant, he was involved in a fight. The defendant broke away from the scuffle and hugged her, she said.

The defendant told her that they shared a cousin and when her boyfriend took offence to the hug, she told her boyfriend that the defendant was her cousin.

She went into a friend's nearby apartment, leaving her boyfriend and the defendant speaking outside. Soon after, her boyfriend walked in and said, "Your cousin wants to see you," she testified.

She told Assistant Justice Charles-Etta Simmons that the defendant offered her money to get back on (her) feet" but she refused.

She said that the defendant took her down a flight of stairs and told her that her boyfriend was a "faggot" and he hoped she was not having unprotected sex. He then put an arm around her shoulders, covering her mouth and took her to his house on the same street, she said.

She said when they arrived at his home, he ran a bath for her and placed a pit bull outside the bathroom door. She testified that she was so scared of dogs, she did not try to leave the apartment.

She said when she got dressed, the defendant entered the bathroom, forced her pants down, hit her in the face, swept her to the ground and raped her.

It was during the assault that he revealed he was not her cousin, she said.

Mrs. Smith said: "The Crown's case is that she was in the bathroom, she was punched in the nose and sexually assaulted".

The jury returned a not-guilty verdict yesterday.