A MAN accused of having an affair with his friend’s wife said he was “terrified” after waking to a house fire, a jury heard.

Martin Nganga is accused of pouring petrol into the hallway of a house in Mallard Close, Blackbird Leys, and causing a blaze on January 29 last year.

Prosecutors at Oxford Crown Court told a jury Nganga’s best man, Peter Kiriamburi, one of the residents of the house, was the intended target of the alleged arson.

Mr Kiriamburi told the court yesterday he woke in the early hours after hearing a bang and shouting.

He added: “I thought I was in a dream, but when I heard a voice saying ‘come out, the house is on fire’, I just jumped out of bed. I was in shock, I was terrified.”

The court heard last Thursday how Nganga, 46, believed his wife Lilian Kibunja was having an affair with Mr Kiriamburi, whom he had first met in Kenya in 1999.

But Mr Kiriamburi told the jury the relationship only began once Ms Kibunja had separated from Nganga in 2012.

During cross-examination, defence barrister Siobhan Grey said: “I’m going to suggest to you that your relationship with Lilian began when she was still living with Martin Nganga and still married to him, that you used to provide money to Lilian behind Martin’s back, and that you used to have conversations on the telephone with Lilian when she was married to Mr Nganga.”

Mr Kiriamburi replied: “No.”

Nganga, of Tiverton in Devon, denies arson with intent to endanger life.

The trial continues.