A factory worker's partner has told a jury how they shared the same home for months after they split up because neither was willing to leave.
The woman told how the tension boiled over in a violent incident in which she believed her ex boyfriend was trying to sexually assault her.
She said she had also found three tablets in a cooking pot where she was making spaghetti Bolognese the night before the attack at her home in Tiverton.
Her partner, aged 39, who comes from Poland, denies battery with intent to commit a sexual assault but has admitted the lesser charge of simple battery at Exeter Crown Court.
The woman told the jury she met the perfume factory worker about nine years ago and they had a child together but their relationship broke up last summer.
She said they carried on living together in different rooms until November when she alleged he assaulted her after she went to his bedroom to confront him over the incident with the Bolognese sauce.
She alleged he had pinned her to the bed, pulled down her underwear, and rubbed himself against her before she screamed and escaped.
Under cross examination she denied trying to use complaints about her ex partner as a way of getting him out of the house, which the owned jointly.
She said:"The relationship ended in May or June but we agreed he would remain there and he did so until this happened in November. He had refused to move out."
She agreed there had been tension over her 19-year-old son bringing his 16-year-old home to stay the night with him and her ex-partner, who is a Roman Catholic, was so upset he complained to the police.
She denied using the allegations of assault against the man as a way of getting him out of their home.
She said:"I went to the police on two other occasions about his abusive behaviour. I can't remember when."
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