A MAN on trial accused of raping a woman and sexually abusing her with a screwdriver told the jury she was lying and stated: “I am the victim here.”
The 22-year-old defendant, who the Telegraph & Argus has decided not to name to avoid risk of identifying his alleged victim, said his ex-partner was jealous and would threaten him with knives.
He denies rape, assault by penetration, four allegations of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and controlling behaviour.
“She made me feel vulnerable and that no one else would want me,” the man told Bradford Crown Court yesterday.
He claimed the woman often self-harmed and that she inflicted the “minor” injury with the screwdriver herself.
The man denied locking the woman in a cellar for three hours, hitting her with a hockey stick and punching her on the nose.
“She just wanted to hurt me and for people to think I was this big, bad person, which I’m not,” he told the court.
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The woman says the defendant gave her 50 black eyes during their “very volatile” relationship, knocked her out with a beer bottle and stabbed her in the arm and legs.
He has admitted offences of intimidation and controlling behaviour while in prison on remand, and perjury during an earlier trial.
The trial continues.
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