A 32-year-old transvestite has told a jury he went back to a transsexual's flat after a "girlie night out" at a Worcester pub but denies raping her.
Barry Dearlove said he saw her in the bathroom wearing a bra and knickers and gave her a peck on the cheek while she was at the sink. He told Worcester Crown Court she turned round and kissed him on the lips and they cuddled but then he went to bed.
He said he had not expected anything else to happen because there were others in the flat, including her partner, who was ill in another room. Dearlove said he had been up since the early hours and just wanted to sleep.
He denied an allegation that he had forcibly turned the alleged victim around in the bathroom so she banged her head on the bathroom cabinet and then raped her. A day or two after he returned to his home in South Park Avenue, Didcot, Oxfordshire, he got a text message which said "I forgive you for the other evening."
He said he cried when he got the message because he did not know what she meant. He thought it referred to them kissing and cuddling and was unaware of any rape allegation until his arrest in June.
Dearlove, known as Christina, said he had come out as a transvestite in 2004. He had met others in the transgender community on nights out in London, including people from Worcester. He would travel to the city and attend "Blush Nights" for the community held monthly at the Brewery Tap in Lowesmoor. He said he had been visiting more often before the night of the alleged attack on April 30, 2011, because he was involved in organising a "big bash" in Manchester that July.
He said on the night of the alleged incident  he had been to a Blush event and it had been a normal "bubbly, giggly night out." He had been drinking but was not drunk. He denies a charge of rape.
The trial continues.