A Mosgiel man has been found guilty of raping his pregnant partner.
After more than three hours' deliberation at the Dunedin District Court yesterday a jury unanimously returned verdicts which also convicted the 38-year-old of assault with intent to commit sexual violation and injuring with intent to injure.
He was acquitted on a count of indecent assault.
The court heard the defendant returned home from work on November 12, 2016, having drunk pre-mixed cans of bourbon and cola.
He was feeling ''horny'' he told the court, and propositioned his wife.
Despite her vomiting due to morning sickness only minutes beforehand, she acquiesced.
However, the victim told the jury her partner's conduct changed dramatically while they had sex.
She said he suddenly pinned her arms down and pulled her hair while she screamed for him to stop.
The woman said she even bit the man's tongue to signal her displeasure when he kissed her.
''What more could she have done?'' Crown prosecutor Craig Power said in his closing address yesterday.
''She's saying 'no', she's saying 'stop', she's trying to move out from under him, she's crying. She's screaming, she bit him. It must have been abundantly clear to him from what she said and did she was not consenting.''
After the rape, the defendant left the room but later returned, he said, to try his luck.
He cuddled his partner but that progressed to him trying to pull off her pants.
She told the jury how she lashed out and kicked at the man, to which he reacted by punching her in the jaw.
The victim said she retaliated with a blow of her own before he hit her again, in the nose.
While she was in the bathroom cleaning up the blood, she called police who arrested the defendant when he immediately admitted striking her.
At that stage there had been no mention of sexual assault, and the man was taken to the police station by two officers who had not been briefed on the situation.
On the journey he told them - unprompted - ''I didn't rape her''.
Mr Power suggest to the jury the comment was telling.
Defence counsel Andrew Dawson said the Crown's case hinged on the reliability of his client's partner and that the jury could not be sure she was telling the truth.
The victim was initially adamant her partner removed items of her clothing before they had intercourse but later admitted it was she who had disrobed herself.
Mr Dawson also suggested the woman ''took the opportunity to twist the knife'' when she was in the witness box, adding incriminating facts she had not previously mentioned.
He argued the defendant only struck his partner after being hit first, because he found himself in a sudden ''fight or flight'' situation.
The jury rejected those submissions.
Judge Michael Crosbie gave the man a first-strike warning.
Sentencing was set for March and the judge said it would inevitably result in a period of imprisonment, although he had no similar previous convictions.
