A Polish man accused of raping a teenage girl in a park said he asked her to have sex with him as a joke.

Michal Tejkowski said he spotted the 17-year-old girl after he left home at about 11pm on February 14 to search the streets for discarded electrical items and toys for his baby daughter, Lewes Crown Court was told yesterday.

The 27-year-old, who lived in West Hill Street, Brighton, is alleged to have raped the girl, who is now 18, in Dyke Road Park, Hove, as she made her way home from a Valentine’s Day night out.

He is also accused of raping a 25- year-old prostitute in the Waitrose car park in Western Road, Brighton, on March 11 and sexually assaulting a 67-year-old woman in a park in Maidstone, Kent, on the afternoon of May 6.

Giving evidence through an interpreter, Tejkowski told the court he approached the teenager near Dyke Road Park, asked her whether she would like to have sex and that she had said yes.

He said: “It crossed my mind maybe I should ask her whether she wants to have sex with me as a joke.”

He claimed they stopped because he felt guilty for betraying his wife but insisted the girl had willingly had sex with him.

Richard Barton, prosecuting, said: “What do you think it was that convinced a 17-year-old girl, after speaking nine words to her, to have sex in a park? You might think it’s a joke but it would be frightening for a woman to be approached in that way.”

Mr Barton said the girl knew nothing about her attacker but was able to tell police that he had repeated a word which sounded like “cliché”.

He said: “Is it just a coincidence that a girl who has never met you, who could not know you were Polish, said that you said a word that sounded like ‘cliché’, when the Polish word for ‘be quiet’ is cichot?”

Tejkowski told the court the second woman had approached him at the NatWest cashpoint just after midnight on March 11 and asked him if he wanted to have some fun.

He said she led him to the car park where they had sex. At no time did the woman mention exchanging money, he told the jury.

Tejkowski denies being in the park in Maidstone where a third woman was attacked and told the jury he had been shopping in Sainsbury’s at the time.

The trial continues.