A local teenager was sexually assaulted and raped by a ‘growling’ man, a court heard.

The girl, aged 16 when she was attacked while walking her dog in a field in Hoylandswaine on May 13, 2010, was so traumatised it took her a year to tell police.

Kevin Wood, of Ward Street, Penistone, who suffers from learning disabilities and is on the autistic spectrum, denies rape and sexual assault.

Sophie Drake, prosecuting at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday, said the ‘lively, bubbly’ teenager was walking her dog at 5.30pm, when she was attacked by a ‘slightly’ built man in oversized clothes who made ‘growling’ noises.

Miss Drake said: “The Crown say the man who attacked and raped her was Kevin Wood.”

She said the rape happened a week before the girl took her GCSEs and she did not tell anyone about it for five months.

The girl, now 18, eventually confided in a counsellor and later contacted police.

Miss Drake said: “She thought she could pretend it hadn’t happened. She was embarrassed about having to talk about intimate things and being medically examined.”

“She tried to get on with her life.”

Five months later, she sought counselling.

Two witnesses picked 34-year-old Wood out in an identification procedure.

Wood declined to give evidence in his defence, but Robert Storey, his stepfather, said that at the time Wood weighed 15 stone and always wore a baseball cap.

He said he thought, but could not be 100 per cent sure, Wood was at home at the time of the attack.

The jury will retire today to consider its verdict.