A former Gillingham player raped a woman after seeing her at a nightclub in Maidstone and vowing to have sex with her, a court heard.

The 22-year-old woman had fallen asleep after having consensual intercourse with current Gills player Bradley Dack.

She woke up to find Nathan Nyafli on top of her and then saw Mr Dack in the corner of the room performing a sex act, a jury was told.

The woman said she protested and left the flat. She called the police and Nyafli was arrested.

The 21-year-old former striker, of Tollgate Way, Sandling, Maidstone, denies rape, claiming the woman consented to sex.

Prosecutor John O’Higgins said the woman was visiting from the north and had gone out in the town in May last year with a friend.

They ended up at The Source Bar in Rose Yard late in the evening. Also there were Nyafli, Mr Dack, another Gillingham player Michael Freiter and a friend, Tetteh Johnson.

Mr O’Higgins said Mr Dack, 21, got on well with the woman. She left with him, her friend, and Mr Freiter at about 5.30am.

They went to get some food and then travelled in a taxi to the flat which Mr Dack and Mr Freiter had been allowed to use for the night.

Over about 10 hours the woman had drunk a glass of wine, four Desperado beers, two vodka and cokes and a shot of tequila.

She said she was not drunk and on a scale of one to 10 she was about six. Nyafli was to rate himself in the same way.

After arriving at the flat Mr Dack and the woman went to a bedroom, leaving Mr Freiter and the other woman on the lower floor.

“They got into bed and had sex,” said Mr O’Higgins. “Afterwards she describes herself as being absolutely knackered. She wrapped herself in the duvet, put it between her legs and went to sleep.”

Meanwhile, Nyafli had left the club with Mr Johnson, known as TJ. They also went to get some food.

Mr Johnson was to say that Nyafli was clearly annoyed that Mr Dack had gone off with one of the women.

Nyafli said he wanted to “beat her” - a slang word meaning to have sex with her.

They went to the flat and Mr Dack let them in the front door.

“He was completely naked,” said Mr O’Higgins. “Nathan Nyafli asked if he had just had sex. He said he had. He asked: ‘Where is she?’ Mr Dack said upstairs.

“The defendant went straight upstairs and into the bedroom. A little while later Bradley also went upstairs.

“As she woke up she remembers her legs were by her shoulders and a man was on top of her having sex with her. She assumed it was Bradley but then realised it wasn’t because he was in the room somewhere else masturbating.

“She told him to get off and physically pushed him off. He grabbed her arm, gripping it quite tight. She pushed him off and said she was leaving.

“She gathered her clothes and left, not before making it clear to all concerned that she had not consented to sex with Nathan Nyafli and he had sex with her without her consent - in short, that she had been raped.”

Later that morning the two women called the police.

Mr O’Higgins said the woman told officers she had never seen Nyafli before but CCTV from the club showed there was some contact between them involving some touching and kissing.

But by the end of the evening she did not seek any further contact with him. She chose to leave with Mr Dack and not Nyafli, added Mr O’Higgins.

When interviewed, Nyafli claimed he had been flirting and kissing the alleged victim in the club and told her: ““We need to carry this on later on.”

He said they all left together and went to the same takeaway to get food. The others left before him and Mr Johnson. He went to the flat and Mr Dack let him in.

Nyafli said he asked where the woman was and was told she was upstairs. He went to the bedroom where he flicked the light on and off and saw she was in bed.

He said “South Africa”, which referred to something said at the club.

Nyafli claimed he and the woman started kissing and he was touching her intimately.

Mr Dack, he continued, also got into the bed. Nyafli said the woman told him to have sex with her.

Mr Dack left the bed and stayed in the room masturbating.

When she saw him standing there, said Nyafli, it was like she had a realisation of what she was doing.

The woman pushed him off, he said, declaring: “I can’t believe I am doing this.”

“There may be an element of truth in that recollection, but it was very different from the truth Nathan Nyafli was trying to persuade the officer of,” said the prosecutor.

“He also said he looked different from Bradley. He is black, had a shaven head, beard and braces on his teeth. He maintained 100 per cent she knew it was him.

“She told him to get off and physically pushed him off. He grabbed her arm, gripping it quite tight. She pushed him off and said she was leaving" - John O'Higgins, prosecuting

“She pushed him off because she had a realisation she was having sex with two men. That is his defence.”

But said Mr O’Higgins: “He was annoyed that Bradley had taken her back to the flat and he simply assumed he was entitled to have sex with her.

“He announced his intention to have sex with her before he got to the flat. He marched straight up the stairs and into the bedroom.

“When he went in she was asleep. She didn’t even know he was in the flat. She was given no opportunity to consent to Nathan Nyafli coming into her bedroom, let alone into her bed.

“Crucially, this defendant took no steps, whatever he may say now, to find out if she consented to sex with him, because from the start that was what he was going to do, that was what he intended to do and he felt entitled to do it.”

The trial continues.

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