Jury in Junior Sefo case to resume deliberations tomorrow

Junior Sefo of College Rifles is accused of rape. Photo / File

The jury in the trial of a premier Auckland rugby player accused of raping a woman as she slept in a Remuera sports club will resume their deliberations tomorrow.

Junior Sefo, 24, has this week been on trial in the Auckland District Court for rape, more than a year after the alleged attack at College Rifles Rugby Football Club. He has pleaded not guilty to raping the woman. He said they had consensual sex.

The jury retired to consider their verdict at 3pm today.

Sefo told the court he had been drinking at the clubrooms on the evening of April 18 last year at the same time as the alleged victim. The pair had not spoken.

About 10.30pm he went to another part of the club to continue drinking with teammates. The alleged victim went to a room to sleep.

Sefo said he went to get something from the room where she was sleeping, and saw her awake. He identified himself to her, before the woman performed oral sex on him. The pair then had consensual sex, he said.

He said the woman called him a different name, so he stopped and turned the light on. Afterwards, he said they continued to have sex before she asked him to stop and leave.

Under cross examination by crown prosecutor Nick Webby, Sefo admitted to lying to police when he was first questioned.

He told the court he had not interacted with the alleged victim at all before April 18 and 19.

Defence lawyer Malcolm English said Sefo voluntarily gave police a DNA sample. He said both Sefo and the woman had been drunk.

"People recreate things in their mind when they are drunk."