Defence counsel for a man accused of sexually assaulting six young men almost 30 years ago has told the jury that the defence's position is that no sexual assault occurred in relation to the first complainant.
The 59-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to one count of attempted anal rape and eight counts of sexual assault on dates between March 1991 and November 1997 at locations in Co Dublin.
The man was in his 30s at the time of the alleged offences, while the complainants were then aged between 17 and 24.
It is the State's case that the man sexually assaulted the first complainant when he was 18 in November 1997 at the man's house.
In his direct evidence, this complainant said he stayed at the man's house, where he slept in his bed. He gave evidence that the man's mouth made contact with his penis.
Continuing his cross-examination of the first complainant on Monday, Michael O'Higgins SC, defending, told him that any wrongdoing is denied by his client.
He said no sexual assault occurred, and if anything happened, it was “something someone was doing while asleep”. The witness said he “absolutely disagreed”.
Mr O'Higgins took the witness through portions of his statement to gardaí.
He told Mr O'Higgins that there had been “absolutely” no suggestion of flirting earlier in the night and agreed with Mr O'Higgins that he told gardaí he ran home following the alleged incident.
In direct evidence, he corrected this and said he returned to the pub to get his car before going home. “My memory is running, then getting home,” he said.
Mr O'Higgins put it to the complainant that he gave a detailed description of running home and feeling exhausted when his mother opened the door, but this was not what had happened.
“What I’m suggesting here is you have given a very detailed account of something that never happened?” Mr O'Higgins said.
The complainant said he was exhausted as he had run part of the way home and was emotionally exhausted due to events of that night.
He agreed with Mr O'Higgins that he has a memory of running home.
Defence counsel asked if he was concerned that he has a memory of “something that didn't happen”. The complainant said he was “very upset”, wanted to get home, and “running is what I did”.
The complainant agreed that he told his mother “he raped me” when he got home, as “that's how I felt at the time”.
School principal
He said he is aware that was not what happened, but “someone had violated me to such an extent that’s how I felt”.
The complainant accepted he knew then what had happened, and while he understands now what rape is, “at 18, I didn’t fully understand when someone is raped what that means”.
Mr O'Higgins also took the complainant through a letter he was requested to write by the school principal the day after this alleged incident.
Defence counsel asked the complainant to explain why there were differences between this letter and his statement to gardaí.
He said he was remembering what had happened “to the best of my knowledge” when speaking to gardaí, but said he had “minimised it emotionally” over time.
The complainant accepted he had described the alleged incident differently when interviewed by gardaí, and with less detail than in the letter.
“I've spent 25 years getting over this incident....some details have faded in my memory. I think at the core the details are what I remember apart from the description.”
Mr O'Higgins asked the man why, if he was aware, that his interview is “wrong”. “You gave that version to the jury and let me take you through it five times without correcting me.”
The complainant replied: “I can only give you what my memory is now.”
Mr O'Higgins said: “You allowed me to parrot you through the whole thing and never said 'since I’ve done the interview, I've seen the letter and there are differences, and now I want to explain'?”
The witness said: “If I was to tell you some details in this [letter], I wouldn’t be telling the truth as I don’t remember them.”
The trial continues before Mr Justice Alexander Owens and a jury.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help.
