A MAN has told of the “terror” of waking to find he was being sexually abused.

Oliver Shann, from Darlington, denies the charges he is facing, and is on trial at Teesside Crown Court.

The 21-year-old initially told police that nothing at all had happened in a house in the early hours of the morning.

But when scientific evidence proved that was not the case, he said the contact between the pair had been consensual.

In a video-recorded interview with police which was played to a jury, his accuser said he was half-asleep when it felt as though he was being touched.

A short while later and in a state of confusion and semi-sleep, he says he realised he was being sexually assaulted.

Asked by a detective, how he felt, the student said: “Terrified. I just froze originally. I wish I had shouted or said something, but I was more just confused.”

The alleged attack took place at a house following a night out. The alleged victim and Mr Shann, of Hutton Avenue, Darlington, ended up under one sleeping bag, said prosecutor Ian West.

Mr West told a jury of eight men and four women: “He could not make any sense of it and I think he thought at one point he was back at home with his girlfriend, and he tried to ignore it and go to sleep.

“He pretty quickly realised there was something wrong about this . . . he wasn’t sure what to do. He got up, went downstairs, thought about it, and called the police.”

Under cross-examination from Alasdair Campbell, defending, he denied flirting with Mr Shann at a nightclub, and leaving the venue with him hand-in-hand.

Sobbing, he also told how he hoped others in the house had heard what was going on because he was scared and did not know what to do.

He told Mr Campbell: “I didn’t expect it to happen to me.”

Mr Campbell: “You didn’t push him away.”

The complainant, sobbing: “No, I didn’t.”

Mr Campbell: “You didn’t say anything to him.”

The complainant: “I was scared.”

Mr Shann denies charges of assault by penetration and sexual assault.