Former public schoolboy Kibirige – who met the alleged victim on the Tinder dating app – denies rape, insisting the sex was consensual.
Asked by his barrister Nicholas Lumley, QC, “Did you rape her?", he replied: “Absolutely not.”
And asked whether he had done anything to her against her will, he answered: “No I did not.”
Kibirige told the court he achieved three As at A-level and good GCSE results at the private Yarm School in Teesside, where his talent for rugby was discovered.
Mr Lumley asked him: “Do you respect women?” He replied: “Absolutely”.
The barrister asked, “Was that a key part of the way you were brought up?” and Kibirige replied: “Most definitely”.
As well as playing for the Falcons, Kibirige is two-thirds of the way through a psychology degree and is an ambassador for the Dallaglio Foundation, set up by former England skipper Lawrence Dallaglio to help deprived children.
The court has previously been told that the strong and athletic 5ft 10in Kibirige used “fear and force” to rape the complainant, but he told police she was “forceful and passionate”.
He told interviewing officer Detective Constable Michael Mulhearn: “We put a film on the TV, as that is what we had talked about doing. The conversation was easy and free-flowing. If she had made it clear she didn't want me there, I would have made some excuse and left.”
He said they began talking about tattoos and piercings before things “got passionate”.
Source : www.telegraph.co.uk/
