A WOMAN has told a jury that she woke up to find a man sexually assaulting her.

Christopher Brereton, aged 35, of Kirtleton Avenue, Weymouth, is standing trial at Dorchester Crown Court over an alleged offence in May 2009.

He denies performing a sex act on the woman as she slept on the sofa at her flat in Weymouth town centre.

Jurors watched a recording of the woman’s police interview on May 7, 2009.

She said that the previous night she and her friend had gone to the Rumshack bar in Weymouth.

The alleged victim, who was 20 at the time, said she met her boyfriend there and when the bar closed at around 3am she went back home with her friend, her boyfriend and three other males they had met – one of whom was the defendant.

She said one of the males left soon after they got back and she went to bed with her boyfriend before her friend went to bed with another male – leaving Brereton as the odd one out.

The woman said her boyfriend had to leave for work at 6.30am and she went downstairs to see him off.

When he left she was alone with Brereton in the living room and she said they had a conversation before she fell asleep on the sofa, wrapped under a blanket.

She told the court that she woke some time later to find the defendant had rearranged the blanket and was performing a sex act on her.

The alleged victim said she told him to get off and ran upstairs to tell her friend, who contacted police.

In response to questions in interview she said: “I didn’t consent to any contact that happened.

“I didn’t give him any impression or anything.”

Prosecutor Michael Butt said that Brereton had left the flat by the time police arrived but was arrested later.

Brereton said in interview that there had been contact between the two, which started with him touching her legs and her stomach.

Mr Butt said: “He claimed that when he didn’t receive any rebuff that he believed she was consenting.”

However, Mr Butt said the woman could not have consented at the time because she was asleep.

He said: “The sexual activity that had taken place between her and the defendant was not something she had invited, was not something she had encouraged and was not something she had any choice in whatsoever.”

The case continues.