THE man charged with raping and murdering a mum-to-be “will say anything” to help himself, a court heard on Friday.

Prosecutor Gregg Taylor QC summed up the case against Carl Whant, 27, to the jury at Newport Crown Court.

Whant is accused of the rape and murder of Nikitta Grender, 19, as well as the child destruction of her unborn baby Kelsey-May and arson.

He denies the charges.

Addressing the jury yesterday, Mr Taylor said: “Someone went into that flat and committed these crimes and we say it was Carl Whant.”

He told the jury of five women and seven men he was not being sarcastic but said, if Whant was not the person responsible for these crimes, “how very unlucky for him that the only time in his life he had consenting sex with Nikitta Grender was about 12 hours before the murder.”

Miss Grender’s body was found on her bed in the flat she shared with boyfriend Ryan Mayes in Broadmead Park on the morning of February 5 last year. She had been stabbed twice.

As previously reported in the Argus, when Miss Grender’s mother, Marcia Grender’s statement was read out, she said Kelsey-May was due on February 18, 2011, meaning today would have been her first birthday.

Mr Taylor said Whant repeatedly told police he never had sex with Miss Grender, until he changed his statement in December when he said they slept together the day before she died, at Mr Mayes’ request.

“I submit, Carl Whant will say anything if he thinks it helps him,” said Mr Taylor, who highlighted inconsistencies in Whant’s account of the night leading up to Miss Grender’s killing.

He referred to his time in the Greyhound pub, saying: “On the very night when Nikitta Grender is to be raped and murdered he has the run-in with an arrogant Asian man and short blonde woman.

“Howvery unlucky to receive these injuries when Nikitta Grender was killed in this way. It’s obvious, we say, Nikitta Grender caused these injuries trying to fight him off.”

Proceeding.