A MAN accused of rape will tell a jury he may have been asleep at the time, Oxford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Maximillian Hessel, of Peat Moors, Headington, Oxford, denies one count of rape which allegedly took place on June 31 last year.

The 22-year-old is accused of committing the crime in the early hours of the morning.

Yesterday his trial started at Oxford Crown Court and prosecutor Sarah Gaunt said part of Hessel’s defence was that he “couldn’t remember” what had happened.

She said at around 6.30am the alleged victim was woken up by the defendant having sex with her.

She told the jury: “You will hear evidence in due course of a suggestion that the defendant may have been asleep, or in a state of arousal from sleep, at the time when he raped the complainant.”

She added: “It is the crown’s case that a capacity to access reasoning, in the way he did, indicates that he was not sleep walking but awake.”

Giving evidence, the complainant said: “Afterwards I was really shocked and scared, I didn’t know what was going on or what had happened.”

The trial continues.