A MAN accused of raping a 15-year-old girl at knifepoint in Dorchester has given his version of events from the night of the alleged attack.

Adrian Cordery denies being at the scene at the time the attack allegedly took place – but could not explain why DNA matching his own was found on the teenager.

Cordery, aged 33 and of Dorchester, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of rape and one charge of threatening with a knife, concerning an alleged incident on school playing fields in Dorchester at about 9.30pm on December 5 2019. During the trial at Bournemouth Crown Court, Cordery said he had visited Dorchester town centre at about 6pm to buy Christmas presents. He told a jury that he walked around town but did not go into any shops, before realising he had forgotten his wallet and returning home to fetch it. He described driving back into town, visiting various shops including Poundland, The Works and Argos, before leaving to buy cannabis in King’s Road at about 9.20pm. He told the court that he smoked ‘a couple’ of cigarettes and drove around the town, before dropping his dealer off in the area of Prince of Wales Road, before heading to the Shell garage on London Road to buy beers at about 10pm and heading home.

When asked by Janick Fielding, defending, at what time he was first made aware of the alleged rape incident, Cordery said he had found out through Facebook and general conversations. He claimed he was happy to provide a DNA sample to investigation officers.

In cross-examination, prosecutor Barry McElduff asked Cordery if he could offer any explanation as to why forensic analysis had revealed it was at least a billion times more likely that semen found inside the victim came from him rather than from someone else. Cordery answered, ‘no’.

Mr McElduff asked if Cordery could give any explanation as to why the semen found matched his DNA profile and he answered, ‘no’.

The prosecution has alleged that CCTV images show Cordery stalked the teenager on the night of the attack. But Wayne Crewe-Brown, a consultant ophthalmologist called as a defence witness, said that Cordery is legally blind in one eye and has significantly impaired vision in the other, meaning he would be unable to make out shapes in the dark.

The trial continues.