A MARRIED man accused of raping a woman after a brief sexual relationship has claimed he did not know what the word rape meant in a text sent to him by his alleged victim.

Fahd Mohammed Alkhalidi, aged 42, formerly of Marlborough Road, Falmouth, is on trial at Truro Crown Court following the alleged rape in Falmouth on September 25, 2020 which he denies.

Taking the stand today, Alkhalidi, who came to this country in 2008 and is from Egypt, claimed he did not understand English properly, despite taking a college course learning the language when he arrived.

In a text the day after the alleged rape the alleged victim said that Alkhalidi needed to “get a grip” and it was “nearly rape” and that she "said no, but you did it anyway”. He replied that he was sorry and it wouldn’t happen again.

When he was arrested by the police four months later he said he lied to them about giving the alleged victim cannabis because he said didn’t want them to know he had cannabis in the house and was giving it to her. He denied having sex with her against her will.

Under cross examination by the prosecution he said he and the complainant had consensual “rough” sex on the day he arrived with cannabis for her and he did not understand what she meant when she sent him a text message the next day saying that was “nearly rape”.

During the police interview he denied ever receiving any text messages a number of times, before the police showed him screenshots taken by the alleged victim.

He said because he was married he didn’t want his wife to see the messages and find out he was cheating on her, so he had deleted them.

He had forgotten about them when the police interviewed him nearly five months later. He said he had originally told the alleged victim not to tell anybody else about what had happened in case his wife found out from somebody he was cheating on her. He denied he was trying to silence her.

“Falmouth is a small town,” he said. “If she [the alleged victim] started talking to people my wife may have found out.”

In court he claimed that when she sent him the text he didn’t understand what the word rape meant and it wasn’t until he asked a friend he understood what she meant. He said when the police arrested him he didn’t understand what the word meant.

He claimed he was going to the alleged victim’s house nearly three times a week with the cannabis she asked him to drop off.

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He said they didn’t stop seeing each after for sex until after the alleged rape when she told him she had a serious boyfriend.

He claimed the text to him from the alleged victim saying about going to the police was her threatening him.

“She wanted weed and money off me," he said. "When I saw the messages I thought she was trying to scare me to have money and weed from me after she stopped the relationship.”

He said she wanted money for the train fare to go and see her family.

“She made it up to get money from me,” he said.

The trial continues.