A man who is alleged to have raped his defacto partner using a hammer has denied all eight counts against him.

The accused is charged with five counts of rape, two counts of assault causing actual bodily harm and one count of wrongful confinement.

He waived his right to counsel and chose to represent himself.

The accused denied that on March 10, this year he raped his partner in Nasinu.

For the assault charges he denied throwing and hitting the complainant with a hammer, cutting her hair and standing on her head which caused her bodily harm.

On the last count of wrongful confinement, he said he did not wrongfully confine the complainant between March 10-13, 2020.

Justice Goundar urged the man to apply for a Legal Aid lawyer because the charges against him are serious, to which the accused said he did not want to apply for Legal Aid. He said he understood the consequences of not having a lawyer and was ready to take an early Pre-trial conference date in two weeks. State Prosecutor Kimberly Semisi said she is yet to contact the complainant because the file was newly allocated to her.

The accused has been further remanded in custody and his case has been adjourned to May 20, for Pre-trial Conference.

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