Two US students accused of invading the privacy of a friend who committed suicide say they did not broadcast his gay sex session online.

Dharun Ravi of Plainsboro, New Jersey, and Molly W Wei of Princeton, both 18, were accused of secretly recording Mr Ravi’s roommate Tyler Clementi having sex with a man and broadcasting it online.

Mr Clementi, an 18-year-old student at Rutgers University in New Jersey, killed himself several days later by jumping from the George Washington Bridge.

The student was said to be distraught and believed he had been outed.

Mr Ravi and Ms Wei say that they were the only people to see the footage and only watched it for a moment. Their lawyers also claim that they did not see any sexual activity between Mr Clementi and his visitor.

Steve Altman, Mr Ravi’s lawyer, told the Star-Ledger: “When the forensic evidence from all the seized computers is revealed, the truth will come out. Nothing was transmitted beyond one computer and what was seen was only viewed for a matter of seconds.”

Police did not comment on his claim.

The pair were each charged with two counts of invasion of privacy for the alleged incident on September 22nd and for allegedly trying to view and transmit another encounter involving Mr Clementi on September 21st.

Mr Ravi posted on Twitter on September 19th: “Room-mate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.”

Two days later, he allegedly asked friends to watch a streamed video. “I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes it’s happening again,” the message said.

The pair could face up to five years in jail if convicted.