A second jury has failed to reach a verdict in a trial involving a farm worker accused of raping a woman in Falmouth.

Davlatsho Davlatshoev had been appearing before Truro Crown Court all week, where he pleaded not guilty to raping a young woman on December 5 last year in the Church Street car park.

This was already a re-trial, after the jury at an earlier trial was discharged when it failed to reach a verdict.

It has now happened a second time, after the jury in the retrial also failed to reach a majority verdict.

Judge Robert Linford had asked for a minimum of ten jurors to be in agreement, but the foreman of the jury said this had not been reached and it was unlikely that more time would make this happen.

As a result Judge Linford discharged the jury and said: "The prosecution will need to determine whether this matter is to be retried in due course, with another jury."

A decision is expected to be made early next week.

Earlier in the trial the court had heard that Davlatshoev, a farm worker from Tajikistan, had come over to the UK to work at Lower Trevaskis Farm at Conor Downs near Hayle.

Opening the case for the prosecution, barrister Rowan Jenkins claimed the alleged victim had started talking to a friend of Davlatshoev, before turning his attention to the defendant and "within literally seconds" they were kissing.

CCTV video shown to the jury showed Davlatshoev, who was 23 at the time, taking the woman by the hand and pointing across the road to the alleyway leading to the car park and leading her by the hand in that direction. It is alleged he took her into the car park and raped her.

Mr Jenkins said earlier in the evening the alleged victim had gone to a Falmouth bar after attending the Penryn Christmas lights switch-on to meet a friend who worked there.

She drank two bottles of beer and a vodka, staying for two hours. She was then persuaded by another friend to go to Club International at around 10.40pm. When she left she appeared completely sober, according to a friend who saw her, said Mr Jenkins.

CCTV footage played to the jury showed the complainant later staggering about and hardly able to stand up. Mr Jenkins said there were claims that her drink had been spiked, but there was no evidence of that.

In a video interview with the police, after the alleged rape, she said she was "sitting down having a smoke, avoiding eye contact with anyone" when the defendant approached her.

She said she moved away but the male approached her again, despite her telling him she wasn't interested. She said she didn't remember how they got to the car park.

"I didn't know what was happening," she said. "I had my eyes closed the whole time, I just froze. That's why I couldn't describe the person who did it. I remember it happening but don't remember much it was so quick.

"My eyes were closed and my trousers were taken down when we got round the corner and I somehow ended up on the floor. I don't know how that happened."

She claimed the rape took place by the fenced off area where the bins are placed.

After his arrest Davlatshoev, who speaks very poor English, claimed that the alleged victim had initiated the sex and he hadn't initially been interested as he did not find her attractive.

Giving evidence he told the court that he had never even kissed a girl before that night.

Davlatshoev, who is a Muslim and doesn't drink alcohol, said he had never seen people drunk before and it was a complete culture shock to him as in his native country Tajikistan nobody drinks alcohol, not even in the capital city.

He said he had come to the UK to hopefully meet people and learn English.

Speaking through an interpreter, Davlatshoev said: "There is nothing like this in our country Tajikistan. The way they were dressed and coming and going, it was so shocking to me."

At around 1.15am his friend was approached by the victim in the foyer area and started talking to her. He said he moved round to hear what she was saying and see if he understood any of what she was saying.

"It was too loud in that area so I brought my head even closer to see if I could understand even one word. I was trying to listen and the girl started kissing me," he said.

"It was the very first time in my life. It's quite unusual in Tajikistan, because there the girls don't act like that. It was the very first time I acted like that."

He told the court that he had said maybe they should go across to the other side of the road and sit there and kiss, and maybe he could learn English and get to know her. He recalled she said something about a car, a word he understood, and he thought she meant to sit in a car to talk to him. He said she took him to the car park then she kept kissing him.

He said she took him to a corner and and they ended up having "sexual action" in the car park. "I'd never imagine we would end up having sexual action in a car park," he said.