THE brother of Sunderland star Titus Bramble will face trial for raping a teenager.

Tesfaye Bramble, a striker with a non-league side in Suffolk, is alleged to have raped the 19-year-old woman at the Vermont Hotel in Newcastle city centre last September.

The 30-year-old, of Stone Lodge, Ipswich, spoke only to confirm his name during the preliminary hearing at Newcastle Crown Court.

The charge was not put during the brief hearing and he did not enter a plea.

A plea and directions hearing - when the rape charge is expected to be put - will be held on March 24.

Judge Brian Forster fixed a trial date of April 11 with a time estimate of three days.

Bramble was granted conditional bail.

It is thought the Bramble brothers had travelled to Newcastle after Sunderland's Carling Cup tie with West Ham at the Stadium of Light on September 21.

The pair were socialising in the Baby Lynch bar then made their way to the Vermont Hotel, where they were arrested in the early hours of the following morning after the teenager made her complaint.

Sunderland defender Titus Bramble, 29, was quizzed with his brother and later released without charge.

On October 21, Northumbria Police confirmed Titus Bramble would have no further action taken against him.