A MOTHER was raped while her son played in the room next door, a court heard yesterday.

Ahmed Sarhini, 35, who is also known as Antonio, of Wardroper House, Greenford Road, Newcastle, denies raping the woman in a Darlington flat on September 23 last year.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was in the flat with her son and a friend when Mr Sarhini arrived to see a relative of his, who was out at work.

The two women and Mr Sarhini were watching television and chatting, while the boy played on a PlayStation, the court heard.

Tim Roberts, prosecuting, told the court that the accused had begun making "unwanted advances" to the woman while they were in the living room, such as touching her thigh and ruffling her hair. She told him to stop, and he did.

The court heard Mr Sarhini and the woman left the flat together a little later, he to get cash from a bank, and she to pick up a bottle of wine. He left her at the shops.

The woman told the court: "I thought that would be the last we saw of him that night."

But later, the mother and her friend were surprised when he returned to the flat.

She said: "We were sitting waiting for Lily Savage to come on the television, we were wanting to have a laugh and a giggle."

After watching the television show the woman went to the toilet, and on her way back saw the accused in a bedroom, looking at a photograph. He called her in.

She told the court: "I wanted to put some distance between us, so I sat on the bed."

The woman went on to describe how she was pinned to the bed by the accused, who then raped her as her friend and son were in the next room.

Mr Roberts told the court that Mr Sarhini denied that he had made unwanted advances, and claimed that she had been hugging and kissing him.

But he told the court: "The boy heard his mother screaming from the bedroom. He saw the unwanted advances towards his mother in the living room."

The trial continues.