A student was repeatedly raped on board a boat by a member of a dive party, a court has been told.

The 23-year-old woman wept as she gave evidence in the trial of Robert Wilson at the High Court in Aberdeen, after it was claimed she had been seen touching his leg in a pub in the hours leading up to the alleged attack.

The woman, who worked on the vessel, said she had no idea how much she had to drink that day and could not remember leaving the bar, close to where the boat was moored in Orkney harbour.

She started drinking at about 4pm, had eaten only a peanut butter sandwich and could only remember drinking pints of lager, she said.

Wilson was among a group of divers who were staying on the boat for a week and diving off Scapa Flow.

The alleged victim had gone out drinking with the group, which was the norm on the night before a group departed.

She told advocate depute Graeme Jessop she had liked every member of the group apart from 35-year-old Wilson, whom she had found arrogant and rude. She said there had been no prior flirtation between them and she was not attracted to him.

Local man Andrew Sinclair, who worked on another dive boat, had joined them in the bar. He said in his evidence the alleged victim was "quite tipsy" and seemed to be drunker than the men.

She and Wilson had been holding hands, hugging, and touched the tops of each others legs, he said.

The pair seemed interested in each other, and she seemed quite happy, the court heard. When she wanted to leave the pub at about 11.30pm that Thursday, September 14, 2006, Mr Sinclair decided to walk her back to the converted trawler. He said he was concerned she might fall between the boat and the pier.

Mr Sinclair, 22, said despite her drunken state, the woman managed to jump onto the boat and climb down a ladder. He said she was not drunk enough to have fallen unconscious.

Mr Sinclair said he took her to the police station when he met her the following day.

Wilson, of Main Street, Cottingley, denies repeatedly raping the woman on the boat on September 15, while she was under the influence of alcohol, at times unconscious, and unable to resist.

The jury was shown video footage and photographs of the boat. The alleged victim described the layout as the images were shown, and said her accommodation was on the opposite side of the vessel from the guest accommodation.

The trial continues.