A groomsman who had sex with a bride the night that she and the groom held their wedding banquet this summer has been cleared of rape, Napo County People's Court ruled Wednesday.

The bride, surnamed Huang, and the groom, surnamed Wu, held a wedding ceremony on August 30 in Napo county, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

That night, one of Wu's groomsmen, a man surnamed Ruan, stayed at his home after the celebrations.

Around 2 am, Huang woke to use the bathroom and mistakenly returned to Ruan's room and slipped into bed with him. Believing that Ruan was her husband, she began to caress him in the dark and the two had sexual intercourse.

In the morning, when Huang found herself lying next to Ruan, she shouted "rape." Wu and his family rushed into the room and demanded that Ruan pay compensation for what he had done.

But Ruan said that he had done nothing wrong and had no money to pay up.

Huang and Wu went to the local police station to press charges, but officers said that it was not a case of rape and refused to file the case. Angry, Huang and Wu turned to the court for help.

But the court said that Ruan had been sleeping before Huang mistakenly entered and aroused him. It ruled that Huang had proactively engaged in consensual sex with Ruan.

While Ruan acted morally wrong, his behavior was not criminal or illegal in nature, the court added.

Nanguo Morning Post