JURORS have been told they must decide whether a woman is telling the truth when she says an Exeter man raped her at her city home.

Both prosecution and defence put their closing speeches to the jury at Exeter Crown Court in the trial of Nigel Johnson, 49, of Hawthorn Road, Whipton.

Recorder Jonathan Fuller QC is due to sum up the case on Monday before jurors retire to consider their verdict.

Johnson has pleaded not guilty to twice raping the woman in an alleged incident earlier this year.

It is claimed that he visited the home of the woman, who he knew as an acquaintance, while his wife had reported him missing to police.

The prosecution alleges that he became violent when the woman resisted his advances, perforating her eardrum when he slapped her, started to throttle her and threatened to kill her if she did not submit.

It is claimed the woman sent a text message to her boyfriend saying 'Help' and another to a friend, which said 'I am being molested'.

The boyfriend then arrived as Johnson was leaving and police were called. The defendant told police they had consensual sexual activity and then her mood changed.

He later said they had been having an affair and she became angry when he would not agree to tell his wife.

Prosecutor Sean Brunton, putting his case to the jury, said the woman was too scared to leave her home when Johnson began making advances to her.

"What might one do, alone, on a freezing evening," he said. "When in drink, the defendant presents a very different character to the one we've seen in the sober light of court."

He described one of the text messages as a "cry for help against an unwelcome visitor, before things get even worse".

Nicolas Gerasimidis, defending, told jurors they should not necessarily convict Johnson even if they did not believe he was having a secret affair with the woman.

He questioned why the woman never fled from the house but instead claimed to have run to the bathroom on one occasion and to the kitchen to make a text message for help on another.

Mr Gerasimidis questioned how Johnson could have allegedly repeatedly forced the woman into her bedroom when he was drunk and suffered from poor health, including angina.

He added: "How does she find herself kissing him, as she says she reluctantly did?

"How did she find herself pushed up the stairs.

"It just doesn't begin to make sense."

Mr Gerasimidis said: "There's a million questions about why she said it happened as it did," including the timing of the text messages.

The trial continues.