The defendant (40), who the Island’s media has chosen not to name to protect the identity of his wife, is alleged to have raped her after he threatened to leave her if he didn’t get more sex. The man, who denies one count of rape, told the jury yesterday that the sex was consensual.
During the first day of the trial in the Royal Court on Monday, it was heard how the couple’s relationship had broken down and that the defendant had been having an affair with a younger woman.
And yesterday the defendant told the jury he had never threatened to leave his wife if he did not get more sex.
He told the court that when he was in bed with his wife on the morning of the alleged incident, she did nothing to make him feel that she wasn’t consenting.
Under questioning from his lawyer Advocate Ian Jones, the defendant said: ‘I woke up before her and kissed her on the cheek, she rolled onto her side and she backed into me. I started to pull her pyjamas down and she lifted up. She didn’t try to pull her pyjamas back up.’
Asked by Advocate Jones if she repeatedly said no to him ‘ten to 20 times’, the defendant said: ‘She didn’t say anything at all. She was actively participating.’
The defendant also denied that his wife was crying while they were having sex, and when asked if he had raped his wife, he said: ‘No’.
During cross-examination, Crown Advocate Simon Thomas asked the defendant if he felt entitled to have sex with his wife, something she had accused him of in an email.
The defendant said: ‘I felt a husband and wife should have sex but always consensual, that was very important to me.’
The defendant also said the reason his wife had made up the alleged rape might be down to their ongoing divorce proceedings.
The case is the first of its kind in Jersey, as under previous legislation, the defendant could not have been tried in the Island for the offence, which happened in a European country.
However, a change in the sexual offences law meant the case could be tried before the Royal Court.
