Ex-Gills striker Nathan Nyafli used the opportunity to blame former teammate Brad Dack for certain things at his rape trial, the prosecution has claimed.

Maidstone Crown Court has heard Mr Dack, 21, had sex with the woman shortly before Nyafli is alleged to have forced himself on her.

Now a jury has been sent out to consider its verdict.

Mr Dack was in the bedroom at the Maidstone flat performing a sex act when Nyafli was having sex with the woman in the early hours of May 8 last year.

They had all met earlier at the Source Bar in the town, although the alleged victim at first stated she had never seen Nyafli before.

She claimed she had fallen asleep after having intercourse with Mr Dack and awoke to find Nyafl, then 20, on top of her.

Prosecutor John O’Higgins told the jury of eight men and four women in his closing speech: “It has been necessary to hear about what Bradley Dack is said to have done.

“There is a real sense that the defendant is using this opportunity to blame him for certain things at the time when he is not here to answer for himself.

“You will not hear from him. You will be directed by the judge not to speculate as to why he is not a witness or what he would have said if he were a witness. Please don’t.”

He added: “They felt they could discuss her like a piece of meat they could share one after another. It is a profoundly warped attitude to women and this woman in particular.”

Simon Taylor, defending, in his final speech refuted the suggestion that Nyafli was blaming Mr Dack.

Mr O’Higgins said if the 22-year-old woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, did not know what was going on it was evidence that she was not fully conscious and lacked the capacity to make a choice.

“Someone in a state of less than consciousness cannot do that,” he said.

“Was she not entitled to assume that the person doing this was the person who had last been in bed with her and with whom she never had a problem, Bradley Dack?

“It may be suggested she must have known who it was. He says in his own language he ‘beat her’ for five to 10 minutes. Really? Or did this happen more quickly than that?

“The moment she realised, she pushed him off and it was quite clear what her reaction was. The prosecution cause is from the start when he went into her bedroom she was asleep.

“It follows she didn’t have the capacity to make a choice before then. When she did achieve consciousness she made her choice - ‘No’ and pushed him off.

“What spooked her was the man on top of her was not Bradley Dack with whom she consented.”

Mr O’Higgins said Nyalfi believed he could assume the woman’s consent because he thought she was a slut.

“We say that any girl brought back to the flat was fair game irrespective of the consequences,” he continued. “That’s why he marched into the bedroom and into her bed.

“He didn’t have any respect for her. He certainly didn’t respect her right to say no, or even who it was who was touching her. He assumed she was available.

“He helped himself to what he would call seconds - and that is a crime.”

Mr Taylor said Nyafli had behaved in a way that was “less than perfect” on the night in question but he was not a rapist.

Text messages to friends that were read out in court were ugly. But he was consistent in his denials.

“Just because he is a young man who engaged in casual sexual activity and you may think is distasteful and unsavoury, it doesn’t make his account untrue.

“The allegation is ghastly and disgraceful. His text messages contain language which can be described as chauvinistic and sexist. He spoke about her in less than flattering terms.

“The terminology doesn’t make him a rapist.”

Mr Taylor said Nyafli’s case was a complete denial of rape. It was suggested that the woman’s account was unreliable in many aspects.

“I am not suggesting she has deliberately set out to lie about this incident,” he said. “You may think the sight of Bradley Dack masturbating may have made her come to the conclusion it was wrong.

“Perhaps we will never know what truly happened. It is not his case that he could do what he wanted to do. The prosecution suggest his entry into the bedroom was brutish and like something out of the dark ages.

“He didn’t have any respect for her. He certainly didn’t respect her right to say no, or even who it was who was touching her. He assumed she was available" - John O'Higgins

“He acted upon her reaction to him when he entered the bedroom. The defendant says she was awake. They spoke, they kissed. He thought he was engaging in sexual intercourse with an attractive young lady.”

Mr Taylor said if it had not been for CCTV footage from the nightclub jurors would be considering the woman’s account that she woke up to some man she did not know on top of her, as she had told police: “I have never seen him before in my life.”

He added: “You may be repulsed by his behaviour. This is not a court of morals. It is a court of law. It is a criminal trial with a huge amount at stake.

“He faces a hideous allegation. We have got an honest account of a young man in a dreadful situation.

Nyafli, 21, of Tollgate Way, Sandling, denies rape.