Man cleared of raping woman at knifepoint after accuser admits lying

The woman claimed that after letting Mr Haughian into her home in Belfast, the pair went upstairs to her bedroom where he shoved her on the bed, told her he wasn’t paying her and raped her twice.

She also alleged he produced a Stanley knife and held the blade to her throat whilst raping her.

Mr Haughian said he had sex with the woman – who cannot be named for legal reasons – but said it was consensual.

During cross examination in court on Tuesday, a defence barrister suggested there were several inconsistencies in the woman’s account to police.

He suggested that after Mr Haughian refused to pay her for her services as she was menstruating, she had made up the allegations of rape as “payback”.

He asked her about a series of text messages she and Mr Haughian exchanged before he called to her home and she accepted she had deleted them.

The woman claimed that as she was being raped she screamed several times.

CCTV footage spanning the period of the alleged incident from a neighbour’s camera was then played which picked up sounds in the street such as a resident vacuuming and a dog barking

The defence barrister asked her: “At any stage in that video is it possible to hear you scream?”

She replied: “No.”