A MAN accused of raping a woman in a resturant car park said the victim only got upset when she thought she might be pregnant.

Fareed Issa Tariq appeared at Swindon Crown Court yesterday for the third day of a trial where he stands accused of two charges of rape and two charges of attempted rape. He denies all four charges.

The jury heard on Monday and Tuesday that Tariq, 32, of Hawfinch Close, was accused of raping a woman after a night out at the Casbah where the two had met.

Tariq, who is of Somalian origin, picked the woman and a friend up as they were walking home and, after dropping the friend off, he is accused of raping the woman in the car park of The Weighbridge restaurant in Penzance Drive last July.

The jury heard yesterday from the friend of the woman who also had a lift with Tariq. She said she had already pulled the woman away from a black male, believed to be Tariq, when they were dancing in the club after becoming concerned at how close they were getting.

Fiona Elder, prosecution, then showed the jury CCTV images of Tariq entering and leaving the club before showing images of the woman also entering and leaving the club.

The CCTV also showed that after leaving the club, Tariq cruised past the club in a Silver Toyota. It was suggested he was looking to pick up the woman.

The jury then saw images of the injuries the woman said she sustained on the night of the attack, which included bruising to her ankle, knee and inside of her thighs.

Expert witness Dr Jason Payne-James told the court in a statement that the injuries were “consistent with the account of the victim – Mr Tariq gives no explanation for the cause of these injuries.”

The jury also heard from a resident of Padstow Road who said they heard a woman screaming at the same time of the alleged incident.

Tariq phoned the police after a friend spotted him in a police appeal on the front page of the Adver. He claimed in his interview that the activities between the two were with her consent and the woman had started touching him in the car before they stopped in the car park.

He said: “She started touching me and carried on. When it got to rubbing, that is when she pulled her trousers down.

“We started kissing. After that she was upset. I dropped her off and went home.

“When we stopped and kissed I did not have the intention to have sex with her. It just happened.When she didn’t resist I thought we would just have fun for a bit.

“She started crying and said she would be pregnant, I pulled my trousers up and went to the drivers side.”

The trial continues.