The Warwick man accused of aggravated sexual assault took the stand in his defence yesterday, as his Supreme Court trial entered its third day.

The 30-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has denied committing the crime. If found guilty, he faces spending up to the rest of his life behind bars.

On Monday, his victim testified that she met him at the Club 40 night club on December 9, 2001, after he bought her and a friend drinks. She told Assistant Justice Archibald Warner that after the two women left the Front Street club, the man helped them to flag down a taxi. According to her, after the taxi dropped her off, the man surprised her by appearing at her home unannounced.

During her testimony, she told the nine-man, three-woman jury that although she did not ask the defendant to leave, she was trying to figure out a way to get him to vacate the premises. She said eventually he indicated to her that he expected for them to have sex. Then, the 41-year-old Devonshire woman said, he punched her in the face several times, held a knife to her throat, then had sex with her while wearing a condom.

However, when the man took the stand yesterday, he said he was at the night club when the victim began dancing with him. He said they introduced themselves and the woman asked him whether he was there alone.

"She asked if I would like to come to her house that night," he told Mr. Justice Warner. "I thought she was bluffing me, so I asked her was she serious. I also asked what we were going to do afterwards."

Then, the defendant said, she told him it would be a surprise. He said she then verbally gave him her telephone number and left. When leaving the club, the man testified that he bumped into the woman and her friend outside the entrance.

After they told him they needed a taxi, the man said they walked towards the Beach bar on Front Street and he flagged down one for them. All three got into the taxi.

"When the cab took off, (the victim) slid close to me and whispered that she did not want her friend to know that I was coming to her house, so I said I was going to a cousin's house who lived in the area," he said.

The accused then said when the taxi dropped him and the victim off, she went into her home while he waited across the street so that her friend would not see them together.

He further testified that when he went to the woman's front door, she invited him in. He said she asked him to sit in her sun room, then sat beside him on a loveseat.

"Then I asked her what was my surprise and she started to kiss me," the man said. "After a while of kissing, she asked me to kiss her on the hips and I did. She said that she usually didn't pick up men but she said that it was something about me."

Eventually, he said, she led him to her bedroom where they both undressed and performed oral sex on each other. Then, he said she asked whether or not he had a condom.

According to the man, who is represented by Elizabeth Christopher, the two proceeded to have sex.

But the man said when the woman tried to get him to anal sex with her, the mood between them changed when he refused.

"...I told her that I wasn't into all of that," he said. "Then she sucked her teeth and got up ... then started to call me a stupid bastard.

"She came up in my face and I pushed her away from me. She came back at me and slapped me. I slapped her back. She slapped me again and I slapped her back twice. Next thing I know she was on the bed."

The man said he then put on his clothes and left her house.

When questioned by Police about the incident days later, the man said officers seized several items from his home, including a piece of paper with the name of the victim and two telephone numbers.

When asked by Ms Christopher what he thought the numbers were, he said: "I just thought they would be the numbers to reach (her)."

The trial continues today. Crown counsel Graveney Bannister is prosecuting the case.