A UNIVERSITY student who claims she was raped as she celebrated her 21st birthday asked her alleged attacker the following morning whether they had had sex.

Defendant Bahada Kalsi said the alleged victim had been drinking and smoking marijuana on the night of the incident, before they had taken a taxi to a Middlesbrough nightclub - a journey which came to a sudden halt when she was sick in the back of the cab.

Mr Kalsi said he carried her to bed and helped her undress. He then went to sleep on a sofa, but was cold and climbed into bed with her.

He told the jury that they were lying on a mattress on the floor when he started having sex with her.

He said: "She told me to stop, which I did. Then we both turned over and went to sleep.

"When she woke up in the morning, she asked me if she had sex with her boyfriend. I said it was me.

"She asked me if we had had full-blown sex and I said yes. She got a bit hysterical from that point on.

"I was a bit shocked to think she had asked me that question."

Mr Kalsi, who was interviewed 13 months after the woman's 21st birthday, told Teesside Crown Court that she responded to him and he stopped when she told him.

Mr Kalsi, from Leicester, denies rape and indecent assault.

The trial continues today.