AN ASYLUM seeker accused of raping a woman while her child and friend sat next door was yesterday cleared of the charge.

Former Lebanese army officer Ahmed Sarhini, 35, was found not guilty by a jury at Teesside Crown Court.

He had denied raping the woman in the bedroom of a Darlington flat in September last year.

She had earlier told the court how Mr Sarhini, also known as Antonio, had touched her while they sat on a couch.

She claimed he later enticed her into a bedroom and raped her while her friend and child sat in an adjacent room.

But Mr Sarhini, speaking through an interpreter during the four-day trial, said he did not know why the woman was "telling these lies".

He said that he arrived at the flat to find the women drinking and watching television.

When they offered him a drink, he declined and said they were "drinking like alcoholics".

"They had drunk three bottles of wine. Their behaviour became inappropriate. The woman began moving up beside me on the couch and I told her not to.

"When I called her an alcoholic she became angry and upset, unstable and unpredictable," he said.

The court heard how Mr Sahrini, of Wardroper House, Greenford Road, Newcastle, had been employed as assistant manager at Pizza Express in York.

He arrived in the country in 1999 claiming asylum.

In evidence, he said her friend told him the woman often became upset when she had been drinking.

He then felt uncomfortable, he told the court, and left to meet friends.

When asked if he had raped her, he said: "No, never. It is not true. I don't know why she is saying these things."

The court previously heard that the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had a history of suicide attempts, alcohol abuse and depression.

The jury took just 30 minutes to reach their not guilty verdict.