A man accused of serious sexual assault and depriving a middle-aged woman of her liberty yesterday claimed the alleged victim consented.

The 37-year-old man told Supreme Court: "I never sexually assaulted her, never. I never detained her against her will.

"She never said she did not want to have sex. She took off her own clothes.'' The man also denied stalking his ex-girlfriend, claiming that he had not been able to understand a letter telling him to stay away from her.

He said his few meetings with the victim in the week leading up to the alleged assault were mostly coincidental.

And he revealed that he had been given a letter telling him to stay away from the woman earlier in their relationship but had moved back in with her a week later.

It is alleged that the man forced the 50-year-old woman into a derelict house, threatened her with a pair of rusty hedge clippers and later raped her on June 13.

But the defendant alleged that she accompanied him voluntarily into the derelict house where the assault is said to have taken place and that at no time did he threaten her.

The man denied threatening to kill the victim with the clippers, and said he only used them to open a window in the bottom level of the house.

"There was no violent struggle between me and her,'' the defendant testified.

He told the court that the victim removed her clothing herself and that the sexual intercourse which took place was consensual.

The court heard the man noticed a "hickie'' upon the woman's chest which led him to believe that she had been having sexual relations with another person.

When the defendant confronted the complainant, she denied this and was reported to have said that "she'd do anything to get on the right side of (the defendant)''.

According to the defendant's testimony, the pair continued to talk on the porch of the house for a further half an hour before going their separate ways.

He was later arrested and a Police officer yesterday testified that the defendant immediately admitted, "I was with her all day. Yes, we had sex.'' Det. Sgt. Wendell Thorpe said that the defendant appeared to be in a state of confusion and disbelief at this time.

"This was not the first time she'd had me arrested'' the man told the court later and claimed that his relationship with the victim was turbulent.

The closing arguments will be heard in the Supreme Court today.