The 29-year-old, who cannot be named, is accused of raping his wife while she slept in a Canberra home in September 2012.

She says she woke to find he had his arms around her, holding her tightly, and was trying to force sex upon her.

The woman says she told him to stop, telling him he was hurting her, but that he didn’t respond and raped her.

When she confronted him the next day, she says he responded ‘‘it's not rape, we're married’’.

A pre-recorded video of the cross examination of the woman by barrister Jack Pappas was played to the court on Thursday morning.

Mr Pappas questioned her about the period after she left the accused and took the child interstate.

The court heard the woman only reported the rape allegation to police after receiving a letter saying her husband was taking her to court to force her to return to the ACT with the child.

Mr Pappas accused the woman of making up the story in the face of her husband’s planned court action.

She denied that, saying: ‘‘No I did not make it up. I wish I did because then I wouldn’t have had to go through this.’’

Mr Pappas also asked her about a text message she had sent her husband asking him, ‘‘is that why you tried to rape me?’’.

The woman had earlier been told by a lawyer that she needed Facebook or text messages as evidence to back up claims of assault.

Mr Pappas asked why that particular text had been written in a more composed, grammatically-correct tone than the pair usually used.

She denied sending that text because of what her lawyer told her.

‘‘I wrote this because I was angry at what he did,’’ she said.

The jury trial continues on Thursday before Justice Hilary Penfold.