A STUDENT injured in a grenade attack was cleared yesterday following a retrial of raping a vice girl in his flat.

Ashmatullah Darwish, 28, suffered severe leg injuries in 1999 when Taliban forces threw a grenade into his home in Afghanistan.

He told Teesside Crown Court that his injuries meant it was impossible to have forced sex with the 23-year-old woman, as she had claimed.

He was living in Middlesbrough and was receiving medical treatment while studying English two days a week at a local college.

Mr Darwish said he received a letter from his fiancee saying she would marry him and he went to a nightclub to celebrate.

He had never drunk alcohol before but had ten to 15 pints, and, as he walked home, he met the prostitute who asked him if he wanted sex.

They agreed on a price and they arrived at his floor flat at about 3am. But after a few minutes the woman said she was leaving.

Despite his protests she left wearing just a T-shirt. He was naked but he went to the front door and flung her clothes into the street. Then he went to sleep.

Ian Skelt, prosecuting, said the woman was naked from the waist down when she ran into the road and flagged down a taxi with three young men in it. They phoned for the police.

The woman, who said that she was a heroin addict at the time with a £70-a-day habit, claimed he made a slashing gesture across his throat when she tried to leave. She said she was petrified by his behaviour.

Mr Darwish, of Union Street, Middlesbrough, who gave evidence through an interpreter, was found not guilty of rape after a three-day trial.