Carpenter Nicholas Foreman, of Christchurch, Dorset, is on trial at Winchester Crown Court charged with two counts of rape, one of sexual assault and three alternative charges of sexual activity with a child.
The jury has heard that the defendant encountered the complainant outside the Standing Order Wetherspoon’s pub in Southampton city centre on the evening of February 15.
The pair then went to Houndwell Park where the alleged offences took place at about 10.30pm, the court was told.
Foreman, who was born in Guildford, Surrey, told the jury that he did not rape the complainant or force her to do anything sexually that she did not want to do.
He said that he did not know that she was 14 years old and added: “I was led to believe that she was 18.”
The defendant said that he had been offended when police asked him if he was attracted to children and said it was “because I am a fully grown man, I am not attracted to 14-year-old girls”.
He said that after his arrest, “he felt shock at everything, I just wasn’t expecting to be at a police station being interviewed for such a horrendous offence”.
Foreman, who is engaged to be married, added that he felt “awful, terrible towards my own family but (the complainant’s) family and herself, a little bit speechless to be honest”.
The defendant said that he had gone to Southampton that day to watch the football match between Southampton and Bournemouth, and he had drunk two or three beers at the game.
He said that after the match he went with friends to the Standing Order pub at about 7pm where they drank four or five more beers which he said was a “totally normal” amount for him and added: “I was a little bit drunk.”
Foreman said his friends left and he intended to get a taxi home when he met the complainant outside the pub.
The judge ordered the jury to find the defendant not guilty of one charge of rape and an alternative charge of sexual activity with a child after the prosecution stated there was no case to answer on these two counts.
Foreman denies the six remaining charges and the trial continues.
