The mother of a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by her cousin after a night out has admitted in court that she was so angry when she heard about the alleged crime that she confronted her nephew with a knife in her hand.

?I wanted to kill him,? she told a jury at the Supreme Court as she gave evidence in the trial.

The alleged sexual assault is said to have taken place last November 6 when the woman and her cousin returned to her apartment after meeting up at Champions nightclub in Hamilton during the early hours of the morning.

Neither the woman nor her alleged attacker can be identified for legal reasons.

Giving her side of the story in court, the woman said she had offered a place for her cousin to sleep fearing he would get into trouble if he tried to drive his car home after the night out.

But once they were back at her Pembroke apartment the woman claims her cousin forced himself upon her despite her attempts to fend him off and her defensive cries of: ?What are you doing? Stop, you?re my cousin.?

In cross-examination, defence lawyer Elizabeth Christopher put to the woman that she never made such a protest and that there was no struggle to fend of the sexual advances of the man.

The woman repeatedly insisted she had tried to protect herself as he pulled at her and forced himself upon her while they were both lying on her apartment bed.

Ms. Christopher said: ?You did not suffer any bruising or injuries as a result of this incident?? The woman said she hadn?t.

When Ms Christopher suggested that the woman did not have a clear recollection of the events because of the alcohol she had consumed that evening, the woman replied she was ?fully aware? but admitted she told Police afterwards that because she was ?tipsy? and ?tired? of fighting him off she gave up.

The woman?s mother gave evidence and said she had driven to her daughter?s apartment after receiving a call from her in the morning. When she arrived she found her daughter?s cousin lying in her bed. Her daughter was sheltering in the bedroom of a girlfriend who shared the apartment.

?He was lying in my daughter?s bed. I charged in the room and asked ?What have you done to my daughter?? He jumped up and said he hadn?t done anything to her. I told him that she had said he?d raped her,? said the woman?s mother.

?He said he had not raped her. I was very angry and was in shock. It appeared to me that he was smirking and did not appreciate the seriousness of it.?

She admitted she had a sharp knife in her hand at the time.

Crown counsel Paula Tyndale asked her why she had the knife.

?Because I wanted to kill him,? she replied.

The mother said the man had referred to her as ?auntie? during their conversation and she was adamant that both he and her daughter were in no doubt that they were cousins as she had told them so on previous occasions and they had been at family gatherings, including a recent Christmas dinner.

The mother said her nephew had tried to explain what had happened by saying he was drunk and her daughter had been ?feeling nice?.

Medical evidence presented to the court showed that there was no bruising or injuries to the alleged victim at the time of the incident. The jury also heard the defendant voluntarily gave himself up to Police and had complied with requests for DNA samples.

The defendant denies one count of sexual assault. The case continues.