The jury has begun its deliberations in the trial of a man accused of raping his wife in a spare room at their Dublin home.

She claims he threatened her with a knife before forcing her to have sex with him while their son slept in another room in May 2014.

This morning, Ms. Justice Isobel Kennedy reminded the jurors of the allegations made by the woman.

She claims he head butted her on their son'Â’s birthday in May 2014.

She said he threatened to cut her face off with a knife later that month before forcing her to have sex with him.

She also accused him of threatening to kill her or cause her serious harm on a number of other occasions.

From the stand last week, the man denied the head butting allegation and said she hit her head off a press door after he pushed her.

He also denied threatening her with a knife on May 25th 2014 and said they didn'Â’t even have sex that night.

Yesterday, the prosecution described him as a fantasist, while his barrister accused the woman of lying to the jury.

Gaining custody of their son was a motive to do so, he said.

The jury began its deliberations at around 12.30 this afternoon.

Our Courts Correspondent Frank Greaney reports: