A MAN accused of raping a woman he had sold drugs to boasted about having sex with her.

Jing Jiang sold ketamine to two young women after meeting them on a night out at the Shooshh nightclub in Brighton.

He later drove them both to a quiet spot where they say they passed out after taking ketamine.

One of the women, who was in the front passenger seat, said she woke up and saw Jiang on the back seat with her friend.

He was attempting to rape the unconscious woman, she claimed.

Jiang, 45, is on trial accused of attempted rape and rape in May 2016.

Amy Packham, prosecuting, told Hove Crown Court the group had met on the night in May 2016.

They drove to a spot in East Brighton overlooking the city where they took the class B drug ketamine.

When the woman’s friend woke up she tried to drive the car to raise the alarm but Jiang took control of the vehicle and drove them to her home.

The alleged rape victim remained in the car and was taken back to his flat above the China Inn takeaway in Portland Road, Hove.

Jurors heard that Jiang then raped the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

The court heard she had no memory between the time she had passed out in the car and the time she woke up in Jiang’s bed with him on top of her.

Ms Packham said the alleged victim did not consent to sex as she was either unconscious or asleep.

In his three police interviews Jiang first told police he had only cuddled and kissed the woman, but did not have sex with her because he was not able to do so. But later tests on the woman’s body showed his DNA.

Ms Packham said that analysis of Jiang’s phone showed messages in Mandarin Chinese where the 45-year-old told a friend he had been unable to have sex with the woman at first.

But he then boasted that he did have sex with her.

Ms Packham told the jury the message was sent before Jiang knew the woman had made a rape allegation.

She told the jury: “You will have to consider whether she was consenting, or whether Jing Jiang believed she was consenting and that his belief was reasonable.

“If she was unconscious or asleep, she can neither consent, nor would it have been reasonable for Jing Jiang to believe she was consenting.”

Jiang, formerly of Surrey Street, Littlehampton, denies the charges, claiming he had consensual sex with the young woman, who was aged about 19 or 20 at the time.

The trial continues.