A MAN accused of raping a woman at knifepoint in her own home branded the alleged victim a “storyteller” and a “drama queen” whose version of events had caused a police officer to fall asleep.

Kamen Lawrence, 32, took to the witness box during a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court, telling the jury he had been invited into a woman’s home, in Colchester, for a drink.

He said he had consumed six beers that day, taken a small amount of cocaine and felt “lively”.

Lawrence said he spoke to the woman outside her home about the coronavirus crisis.

He said she invited him in for a drink and he accepted.

The court heard he asked if he could use her shower as he was dirty after working all day.

Lawrence said he engaged in consensual sexual activity with her, but insisted the pair did not have sex.

He told the jury he had drunk vodka offered to him by the woman and fell asleep on the sofa.

The prosecution say Lawrence left the woman traumatised after he entered her home through an unlocked kitchen door with jogging bottoms wrapped around his face.

Read more: 'Shut up or I will stab you' -  rapist ordered victim he assaulted at knifepoint, court told

It is alleged he armed himself with a knife and subjected the woman to a sexual assault spanning four hours, making her shower multiple times.

The court heard she ran shoeless out of the unlocked door to a nearby shop to raise the alarm.

Earlier in the trial, the jury were played body-worn footage captured by officers when they entered her home at about 1.30am.

They found Lawrence naked and asleep on her sofa.

In the footage, he appears confused and intoxicated as he is told he is being arrested on suspicion of rape.

In cross examination, prosecutor Wayne Cleaver asked about a comment Lawrence made in police interview about the alleged victim feeling scared.

Lawrence said: “You’ve just arrested me for rape, as far as I was concerned she could have been asleep next to me - she’s woke up and thought ‘What’s going on here?’

“She’s made a big drama about it and ran down the shops when if that was the case, she could have rung 999 from the bathroom couldn’t she?”

Mr Cleaver said: “If she’d have made a 999 call from that house, you could have heard it.”

Mr Cleaver said the alleged victim had told the police and the jury repeatedly that she was scared of Lawrence.

Lawrence said: “Can I just say, in that conversation with her, one of the police officers that was sitting there the other day fell asleep when she was talking.”

Mr Cleaver said: “Could you just explain, if you can, why that’s got any relevance at all to this case?”

Lawrence responded: “That’s why he’s fell asleep, because she’s such a storyteller.”

Lawrence, of no fixed address, denies rape, sexual assault and false imprisonment.

  • The trial continues.

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