A MAN snatched a woman’s phone before raping her in the back of his car in the middle of the night, a court heard.

Andrew Ogunlade-George is alleged to have raped the woman in his car after taking her home from a nightclub in Basildon.

The 29-year-old of Albany Avenue, Westcliff, was at a nightclub in Festival Leisure Park on June 6, 2017, when he took her home in his car.

He denies one count of rape and one count of attempted rape, saying all sexual contact with the woman was consensual.

At the trial’s opening at Basildon Crown Court yesterday, Diana Pigot, prosecuting, told the jury by the time the woman got to the nightclub she was “five to six out of ten” in terms of drunkenness.

She said: “She described herself as tipsy but had all faculties about her.

“The defendant was out at the club, he was with a friend, he arrived about 1.05am.

“When she saw him she greeted him with a kiss on the cheek, she knew him through her friends, she would see him around nightclubs, referred him by a nickname “Angel”.

“In the early hours of the morning he asked her and her friend how they were getting home. They both said taxi and he offered them a lift home and they accepted.”

Ms Pigot said the woman was in the back of the car and was about seven to eight on the alcoholic scale.

Ogunlade-George then dropped off the woman’s friend at her home, and a friend went inside to use her toilet.

The woman then got into the front seat of the car as Ogunlade-George drove off to drop her home.

Ms Pigot said: “There came a time when she told him to stop the car and he did.

“He got out of the drivers seat and into the back of the car.

“She joined him in the back of the car because she thought they were going to smoke some weed. It turns out she was wrong.

“He grabbed the back of her head and pushed her head towards his lap.”

Ms Pigot said Ogunlade-George then allegedly tried to rape the woman, despite her asking him to stop.

Her phone then began to ring in the front of the car, but Ogunlade-George then allegedly grabbed it, and with it still in his hand, raped her while she lay still, staring at the ceiling of the car.

Ms Pigot said: “She said earlier she did not want sexual contact with him but he ignored her.

“She grabbed her phone, which was still in his possession.

“As soon as she answered he jumped off her and got back into the driver’s seat.

“She got out of the car and walked home and he drove off.

“Later that day she saw he had added himself to her Snapchat and noticed he was in church with his family.”

Ms Pigot said the woman had messaged him saying “no means no”.

Ms Pigot said that Ogunlade-George had later apologised to the woman in a message after she asked if he would.

The trial continues.