Banker, 31, ‘raped woman’ after she told him ‘I don’t have sex with people on the first date’ 

A woman told an investment banker ‘I don’t have sex with people on a first date’ before he allegedly raped her at his luxury £1m apartment, a court heard today.

Varun Venaik, 31, kissed and touched the woman intimately with her consent before forcing himself on her, it was said.

Australian Venaik is accused of raping the woman at his basement flat in Upper Montagu Street, Marylebone, on July 31 last year after they met on the Bumble dating website.

She told jurors at Southwark Crown Court they went for drinks in a bar before heading back to Venaik’s flat nearby.

‘He said “Do you want to come back to mine”’.

‘I said “sure”’.

Varun Venaik, 31, appeared at Southwark Crown Court (pictured) today accused of raping a woman in his central London apartment

‘His flat was just around the corner. We went to his, chatted a bit at his.

‘We started kissing. That was consensual.

‘Then he got on top of me. We were sat on a beanbag chair. We kissed for a bit.

‘I said “Let’s keep this PG”. What I meant by that was “Let’s slow down a bit”.

‘I went to my underwear. I pulled his hand away. I said I don’t have sex with people on a first date.

‘He said “fine, we don’t have to”.’

Arizuna Asante, prosecuting, said that after meeting on Bumble the pair met up at a bar in Marylebone during the afternoon of July 31 last year. (Stock image)

Later Venaik said he had to go out and meet a friend and she headed to Baker Street station on her own.

But the banker caught up with her saying he had cancelled his friend and they went back to his flat for food and drinks.

The woman said ‘He started kissing my neck. I said ‘lets talk rather than kiss’.

‘He pulled his shorts down, put my underwear to one side.’

She said it was then that he raped her. The woman added she kissed him before she left the flat.

‘We kissed as we said goodbye,’ she said.

‘I didn’t know whether I could leave. I was very close to not leaving. I didn’t know what would happen…tried to keep things light and friendly.’

She said she messaged him after the incident.

‘I sent him a message,’ the woman said.

‘I said you did something I wasn’t comfortable with. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.’

Vaneik, of Upper Montagu Street, denies rape.

The trial continues.