A former teacher yesterday described how, after falling asleep in her cousin?s bedroom, she awoke to find her relative having sex with her.

The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, began testifying in Supreme Court shortly after Crown prosecutor Graveney Bannister outlined his case to the jury.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Bannister said that the woman was asleep in her cousin?s bedroom when the alleged sexual assault occurred.

?The lights were on. The door was open. She drops to sleep on the futon,? but woke up as she felt his hands pressed against her waist.

?That in itself is sexual assault. And he is charged with sexual assault,? Mr. Bannister told the jury.

?The complainant saw his face and she felt his penis inside of her. He was thrusting forward and leaning upwards.?

Her reaction, he continued, was to push him off her and try to leave the room. ?At this time the door was secured and the lights were turned off. And she noticed that the accused was only wearing a vest and no trousers,? Mr. Bannister continued.

The complainant managed to get out of the room and rushed to her own room where she locked the door and pushed the bed against it, the prosecutor added.

?Shortly after she spoke to (her aunt) and then the father of the accused.? Close to a year later she spoke to the Police.

?The complainant was asleep at the time and she could not have been deemed to consent to any action of the accused,? Mr. Bannister told the court.

The accused, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, had admitted to the Police that he was in the room but denied sexually assaulting her, Mr. Bannister said.

Under Mr. Bannister?s questioning the woman, a 28 year old former Middle School teacher, said she lived with the accused and his parents in December 2001 when the alleged incident occurred.

She testified that she considered the accused and his parents as part of her extended family and that she considered the accused as her cousin.

She came to live with the family after moving back to Bermuda from overseas to work, she said.

The accused?s parents, whom she referred to as uncle and auntie, left the house shortly after she returned home from work on the evening of December 7, 2001, and she went grocery shopping and started preparing dinner in the kitchen, she said.

The man she considered her cousin poured her a dark and stormy drink and they conversed casually while she was cooking, she told the court.

She then had a shower, put on a long terry cloth robe and no undergarment before getting her dinner and going to the accused?s bedroom to watch television.

Copies of a floor plan of the house sketched by the complainant were handed to the jury and Mr. Bannister then asked her to explain the layout of the house while referring to her sketch.

She said he made her two more drinks (rum and ginger beer) while they watched television ? she was sitting on the floor in front of the futon, while he was on the floor at the opposite end of the futon.

The complainant also explained, under further questioning by Mr. Bannister, that two women visited the house while she and her cousin were there ? one was her friend and the other was a girlfriend of her cousin ? but they left a short while later.

She said the two continued to watch television and she moved onto the futon and dozed off only to wake up later to find him straddling her.

?When I woke up I saw him straddling on top of me. His hands were on either side of my waist. I felt his wrists on my waist. His hands were flat on the bed and he was propped up on his hands,? she said.

He had penetrated her, she testified, and was ?thrusting backwards and forwards?. She pushed him off and made for the door, only to find that it was locked, the woman continued.

?The lights were off, the TV was off, so I struggled with the door to get it open,? she said wiping away tears.

She testified that the man had nothing on but a tank top and when she got to her room she locked the door and pushed her bed against it.

The next day she spoke to her aunt and the following week she spoke to her uncle, the defendant?s father.

The complainant also testified that she received a letter from her cousin the following week, and after some legal argument, was asked to read the letter out to the courtroom.

?I am very sorry for my actions the other night,? the letter said. ?And I hope you don?t hold it against me for the rest of our lives. I know it was messed up for you and for me too.? The letter went on to say that he was ?drunk and high? and ?thinking about someone else? before asking for forgiveness.

?I am very remorseful and hope you will forgive me. I know you will look at me different and will never forgive me but please forgive me. I hope you will enjoy your holiday. This incident will help me to be a better person and better to understand myself. Please forgive me again.?

The complainant was then asked to identify the robe she had on that night and to demonstrate how she put on her robe and its state when she woke up.

She said the robe had two belts ? one on the inside and one on the outside ? both of which were tied, but when she woke up the outside belt had been undone and her right breast was exposed.

And she testified that at no time did the two talk about sex and she did not give him permission to touch her.

Under cross examination by defence lawyer Craig Attridge, the complainant denied that she had a relationship or dated anyone at the time.

And she acknowledged that she about ten other aunts and uncles in Bermuda and that one of her uncles lived about ten minutes away.

But she denied a suggestion put to her by Mr. Attridge that he had a spare room in his house.

She left the Island shortly after the incident for the Christmas holidays and stayed with her grandmother for a month when she returned but later returned to live with her uncle and aunt, she testified.

And, under further cross examination, she denied that she did not want to live with her grandmother or had an argument with her aunt about staying there.

Mr. Attridge then suggested that the configuration of her room meant it was impossible to push the bed so it would cover most of the door.

And he established that the woman?s testimony in court about their seating arrangement in the bedroom was different from what she had told the Police.

?Your evidence was that you were sitting on the floor on the right side of the futon bed and he was sitting on the other end of the futon bed. Are you sure about that??

?Yes I?m sure,? she replied.

?Is it true that you told the Police that when (the accused) got his food he sat on the futon on the right side??

?Yes?

?Were you mistaken then, or are you mistaken now??

?I was mistaken then,? the woman said.

The trial continues today.