A MAN accused of raping a boy at a leisure centre was himself abused at the same location when he was younger, a court heard.

Nicholas Gully, a 47-year-old psychotherapist, is standing trial accused of raping a 14-year-old at the King Alfred leisure centre in Hove on January 29.

A former client of Mr Gully, of Eley Crescent, Rottingdean, was called as a witness by Amy Packham, who is prosecuting.

The witness told the jury at Hove Crown Court that she was a client at the Brunswick Specialist Clinic in London for five years and she had trusted Mr Gully “more than I have ever trusted anyone”.

Originally she would see him once a week, and they would “discuss issues of sexual abuse” from the woman’s childhood, she told the jury.

She said: “I was describing some abuse that happened to me and he said he learnt to forgive himself. He said that a man had approached him at the King Alfred leisure centre and he had gone home with him.”

The witness said Gully did not give an exact age of when the supposed incident happened, but she was talking about an encounter when she was 11.

She added that he was a “spiritual” person, and told how his work with her heightened her self awareness of events in her life.

She also said that their similar backgrounds made it easier for her to confide in him.

The witness stopped seeing Mr Gully in 2014. She told the jury he had made the revelation early on during her therapy.

Beverley Cherrill, defending, denied the claim and said Mr Gully had “never mentioned” King Alfred leisure centre to her during their sessions.

Mr Gully, who the jury was told is a Buddhist, is alleged to have orally raped the boy in a toilet cubicle at the leisure centre.

The boy said he went in the cubicle to get away from Mr Gully, who he told the jury had been “staring him up and down” in the communal area shortly before.

Mr Gully entered the cubicle as the teenager was leaving, and locked them in together, the prosecution claim.

The 14-year-old told the jury Mr Gully placed his bag on top of the toilet, adding that he was worried there was a knife in there and that he might use it on him.

He told how he crouched down so he was not facing Mr Gully, adding that that was when he was made to perform oral sex.

The jury also heard a statement from a close friend of the 14-year-old who he spoke to after the alleged rape.

In the statement she recounted how he had said he thought Mr Gully “might have had a weapon” in his bag.

The statement also recounted that the boy had said he didn’t struggle because he didn’t know what was in the bag.

She said in the statement that he had been in tears on the phone as he recounted the alleged attack.

The boy’s auntie, who was giving evidence in person, said he had been tearful when he called her to tell her about the alleged attack. She cried as CCTV from King Alfred was played.

Mr Gully denies two counts of sexual assault and one of rape. The trial continues.

‘I FEEL SO DISGUSTING I WANT TO KILL MYSELF’

THE jury was told that the 14-year-old had confessed to friends that he felt “like he wanted to kill himself” after the alleged attack.

The text messages were shown to Hove Crown Court’s jury yesterday.

In one message, he told a female friend he “didn’t struggle because I didn’t know if it would make me look like I was in the wrong”.

He told the friend: “I feel so disgusting and I want to kill myself.”

The court heard how the friend urged him to call police and tell them what he had told her.

He replied by saying: “can’t today”.

In the statement read to jurors, the girl said she was “relieved” when she was told that he had phoned the police.

The boy messaged a different friend and told him he took the blame, the court was told.

The girl ignored his phone calls because she was busy, so the boy texted her saying, “I need someone to talk to,” the jury was told.

The court heard that he told her: “I didn’t even struggle because I thought he had a knife. I should have just run away.

“Maybe I do deserve it. Maybe he thought I wanted it.

“I just need to move on now.”

Gully denies the charges.

The trial continues today.