Johannesburg: Jacob Zuma's first statement to police investigating the rape claim against him made no mention of the consensual sex he has claimed he had with the complainant, the Johannesburg High Court has heard.

Police commissioner Norman Taioe, who heads Gauteng's detective services, also told the court that when he asked Zuma to point out where the alleged rape took place, Zuma took him to a guest bedroom at his home here.

Zuma says he had consensual sex with the woman in his bedroom on the first floor. The woman says she was raped in the guest bedroom on the ground floor.

Taioe said he and a colleague went to Zuma's home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, on November 10, eight days after the alleged rape. Zuma and his lawyer, Michael Hulley, gave the policemen a prepared statement. This was read to the court. It said: "I protest my innocence and vehemently deny the charge."

It says that on the night of the alleged rape, Zuma and the woman had supper with others and later that evening, "we again began to converse and share in each other's company privately".

Zuma's lawyer, Kemp J Kemp, asked what Taioe thought Zuma had meant. He said he did not interpret this as their having sex. The statement says the woman retired to her room around 11.30pm and spent the night there.

Kemp accused Taioe of trying to trap Zuma by asking to be shown the alleged crime scene. But Taioe defended himself, saying Hulley was with Zuma during that visit.

Kemp wanted to know exactly how Taioe had asked Zuma to show him the crime scene, and under persistent cross-questioning Taioe said: "I said 'show me the alleged crime scene' and he showed me the guest bedroom. I then understood it to be the crime scene."

In the guest bedroom, he had asked Zuma: "Is this where it happened?" Zuma replied "yes". Taioe said he had forgotten to include Zuma's reply in his statement and had not thought of adding a follow-up statement with this information.

At Kemp's request he agreed to bring his crime scene notes, if he still had them, to court today.

Kemp asked Taioe why he only went to Zuma's house about 10 days after the alleged rape. Taioe said that he had had to make arrangements through the police's VIP protection service but that he had not informed the police that the visit was urgent.

He was told to meet Zuma at Nkandla and, when he finally saw Zuma, he said he needed access to the house. He did not tell him he wanted the sheets.

Kemp said: "What on earth made you think that the same sheets were going to be on the same bed after 10 days?" He replied that he did not think that.

Kemp asked Taioe why he decided to "interfere" with a meeting that the woman and her mother had with a lawyer.

He replied that he had heard on the radio the woman had completed a withdrawal of charges statement and wanted to ask her about it. He considered withdrawing charges to be defeating the ends of justice.

Earlier in the day the complainant's best friend testified that the complainant would never have had consensual sex with Zuma.

Nomthandazo Msibi, known as Kimi, said that the day after the alleged rape her friend told her: "I hate that man, I never want to see him again", referring to Zuma.

With acknowledgement to Amy Musgrave, Jenni Evans, Sapa and Cape Times.