A county-level court in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region acquitted a groomsman accused of raping his friend's newlywed bride after she mistakenly crawled into his bed on her wedding night.

The court ruled that the sex was consensual between the bride surnamed Huang and groomsman surnamed Ruan, who was staying at the couple's countryside home after their wedding ceremony on August 30.

The mix up occurred as Huang returned from a trip to the outhouse at midnight and mistakenly entered Ruan's room. Thinking she had entered the bridal chambers, she got into bed with who she claimed to have thought was her husband surnamed Wu, and began caressing Ruan.

Ruan did not resist and had sex with Huang. The next morning, Huang leapt from bed and yelled, "Help, he raped me!" alerting the whole family, which demanded Ruan to pay 20,000 yuan ($3,268) in compensation to settle the matter.

The couple only filed a lawsuit against Ruan after he refused to pay.

Legal Daily