A NEW Year’s Eve party turned to horror for two women who woke up the next day believing they had been raped, a court heard.

One of the last things each of the pair remember was sharing a bottle of Bacardi with their alleged attacker, Andrew William Johnson, Burnley Crown Court was told.

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Later one of the women awoke to find Johnson fondling her, after apparently having sex with her as she slept, it is claimed.

Johnson is also accused of raping the woman’s friend, earlier on New Year’s Day, in the same bed.

The second alleged victim says she staggered to a nearby bathroom to find her friend passed out on the floor, the court heard.

And the next morning she claims she awoke on a sofa downstairs to find Johnson kissing the back of her neck and with his hand between her legs, the court heard.

Johnson, of Oat Street, Padiham, has denied two offences of rape and one charge of indecent assault. He accepts that sexual intercourse and other sexual contact took place between himself and the women, but it was all consensual in nature.

Francis McEntee, prosecuting, said the women, both on their own on New Year’s Eve, had got together to share some drinks after making contact via social media.

Johnson was invited around on the same pretext and arrived at one of the women’s homes at around 11.30pm.

One of the women recalled experiencing a burning sensation on drinking the Bacardi he brought along, and remembers little else of the night.

Mr McEntee said Johnson later entered into a Facebook exchange with a third party in which he repeatedly apologised for his behaviour, claiming to love one of the women.

Addressing the jury, Mr McEntee said: “The Crown invites you to conclude that if Mr Johnson had sexual intercourse with a woman that he loved, in a celebratory moment on New Year’s Eve, he would not be sorry, and nor would have anything to be sorry about.”

He told jurors that the women, due to being incapacitated through drink, could not have consented to having sex with the defendant.

The trial continues.