An ex-Gillingham player who is accused of raping a woman after she had sex with a former teammate has claimed she consented.

Nathan Nyafli said the 22-year-old woman only protested after the player she had consensual sex with - Bradley Dack - re-entered a bedroom naked and performed a sex act.

Nyafli, who was forced into early retirement through injury, is alleged to have raped the woman as she slept at a flat in Maidstone used by club players.

She told a jury at Maidstone Crown Court that she awoke to find the 21-year-old former striker on top of her.

Nyafli, of Tollgate Way, Sandling, said in evidence he arranged to go out in the town with a friend on May 7 last year and meet up with current Gills players Dack and Michael Freiter.

He had drunk two glasses of vodka and Red Bull at the flat earlier and had about the same again at the Source Bar.

Nyafli, who was earning £150-a-week at Gillingham, said he met the woman at the nightclub in the early hours.

“I approached her and we were talking,” he said. “I said she had a nice bum. She laughed. I was chatting her up.

“We were chatting and flirting. We kissed. I said: ‘When you are ready to leave I will come and find you.’ The purpose was to go to the flat.

“We were kissing. She was going in to kiss me and then backed out. I said: ‘If you are going to be like that we should carry this on later. She said: ‘Yeah.’

“She asked where I lived. I said we have got a flat in Maidstone. We continued to dance and flirt.”

Nyafli said he did not at any time feel snubbed by the woman in the bar.

He went downstairs and continued mingling with friends. Mr Dack, 21, later told him he and Mr Freiter, 19, were leaving with the two women.

“He said: ‘She is coming back to the flat.’ I said: ‘Yes, she told me she was coming back to the flat with me as well.’”

Asked by his lawyer how he felt, he replied: “Completely fine.”

Nyafli said he went to get his friend Tetteh Johnson to leave. The others were ahead of them. They went to get some food and when they came out the others had gone.

He called Mr Dack and asked where he was. Mr Dack said they had taken a taxi to the flat.

Nyafli said he was annoyed that Mr Dack had left without him. He was not annoyed, he claimed, that Mr Dack had taken the woman to the flat.

“I said I wanted to beat her,” he continued. “It means to have sex. I did want to have sex with her. I went to the flat with the intention of having sex with her.

“We had agreed it previously in the club. We walked to the flat. Brad let us in. He was unclothed. I asked if he had sex with her. He said he had.

“I said: ‘Is she still here?’ I asked: ‘Where is she?’ He said she was still upstairs. I went upstairs. My intention was to sleep with her.”

Asked why, he said: “Because we had agreed to in the club.”

He said he turned the light on and off, made a joke and she giggled.

“I got into bed,” he said. “We started to kiss. I started to do some foreplay. She responded to that. She was aroused. I carried on doing it for five to 10 minutes.”

Nyafli claimed the woman told him to have intercourse with her.

“We had sex,” he said. “Brad entered the room when I was on top of her having sex. I thought ‘Why is he here?’ but I just carried on.

"I went to the flat with the intention of having sex with her" - Nathan Nyafli

“He came onto the bed. He was unclothed. I didn’t say anything to him. We went into a spoons position. I was behind her and in front of Brad.

“Brad got out of bed and went to the other side and started masturbating. She went to the door where her clothes were. She didn’t say anything.

“I asked her what was wrong. She was adamant she didn’t want to do this. I was confused. She put on her clothes. She left the room and went downstairs.”

Nyafli said the woman’s friend entered the room and accused him of rape.

“I said: ‘No, what - never.’ I told her what happened. She stormed out. I realised an allegation of rape had been made against me. I felt very shocked. I was worried.”

The trial continues.

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