A prosecutor has urged a magistrate to convict a 38-year-old man accused of raping a 15-year-old family friend.

Miss X told the man's trial he attacked her in the bathroom of her home while he was staying with the family.

She further alleged that he performed oral sex on her against her will, and threatened to kill her after he was charged with sexual assault.

Neither the accused, nor Miss X, who is now 16, can be identified for legal reasons.

When defence lawyer Craig Attridge cross-examined her during the case earlier this month, he accused her of making up the allegations and pointed out what he described as "major discrepancies" in her evidence. This caused Miss X to burst into tears and threaten to walk out of court.

The accused man also described the alleged attack as "fabricated" and protested his innocence when he took the witness stand.

However, during his closing speech in the case on Monday, prosecutor Robert Welling questioned why someone would make up such a tale against a family friend.

"If (the accused) is right, she has therefore told wicked lies to her mother, to the Police. When interviewed, she must have faked those tears, and therefore maintained those wicked lies when she gave evidence in court," he pointed out to Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner.

Mr. Welling said the girl's demeanour during Mr. Attridge's questioning indicated she was telling the truth.

"Those are the actions of a young witness who's unhappy about being accused of being a liar," he said.

He asked Mr. Warner to consider: "Is this really the fabrication of a warped teenage mind or is this, as we say, a true account of an actual event that she is recalling?"

Mr. Welling described the alleged threats the man made to kill Miss X during an encounter at the BIU gas station in Hamilton as an effort to "bully" her and dissuade her from testifying.

"We would urge Your Worship to consider that the Crown has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and to convict the defendant in these matters," he concluded.

However, Mr. Attridge recapped on what he described as inconsistencies between the account Miss X gave the Police of the alleged attack, and the account she gave in court.

Among the issues were that she told the Police the oral sex came before the rape, but described it the other way round in court.

Mr. Attridge also suggested that her description of where she and the man were positioned both standing up during the alleged rape showed it was untrue. Mr. Attridge said this would be physically impossible, bearing in mind the accused is significantly taller than Miss X.

Mr. Attridge also focused on the point that the girl did not report the allegations until a year after the incident is supposed to have happened.

"There has been no explanation as to why it took 12 months for this complainant to come forward," he said.

Referring to the girl getting upset during cross-examination, Mr. Attridge said: "This complainant wouldn't be the first person to hide behind tears and emotion when challenged about lying. We submit that that was the reason for the emotional outburst before this court."

Mr. Warner adjourned the case until March 2 when he will give his judgement, and remanded the defendant into custody until then.