A woman has told a jury she was held down on her mother's bed while two men took turns raping her.
Four men, who have addresses in Dublin, are alleged to have raped and sexually assaulted the woman at her home between December 8th and 9th 2018.
Reporting restrictions apply to the identity of all participants in the trial.
The first accused, aged 25, has pleaded not guilty to oral rape and sexual assault. The second accused, also aged 25, has pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault.
The third accused, aged 23, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape, one oral rape and a sexual assault.
The fourth accused, aged 24, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape and a sexual assault.
The now 24-year-old woman told Anne Rowland SC, prosecuting, that two of the men took turns raping her while she asked them to stop. She told counsel, “I was being held down,” and asked for the first accused in this case “to make them stop”.
The court heard that neither of the two men wore a condom during the alleged rapes, and she was unsure how long it lasted. “It felt like my body wasn’t there”.
The injured party said she then made her way to the bathroom only to be dragged out by her hair by the first accused in this case.
The woman also described being brought by members of the gardaí to the Rotunda Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU) where a doctor examined her.
Dominic McGinn SC, defending the first complainant in this case, told the woman that his client stated that: “He had sexual contact with you on the night in question by placing his penis in your mouth, but it was consensual and that he never pulled you by the hair.” The woman denied both counts.
Mr McGinn asked the woman about her time at SATU and said the doctor asked her what had happened and that she told the doctor about vaginal, oral and digital penetration, which the woman agreed with.
He said that the doctor was under the impression that she had been assaulted by two men, but in her garda statement, she told them that all four accused had assaulted her.
The woman told the court that it “started coming back” to her and that she was having nightmares. Mr McGinn asked the woman if she could be “sure it happened and that it wasn’t a nightmare?” She replied: “I am not making it up”.
The woman agreed with defence counsel that his client had been to her house on three or four separate occasions before the night in question. She agreed that the second time the first accused came to her house, she performed consensual oral sex on him while his friend was in the room.
When asked why she performed oral sex with someone else present, she said she just “wanted to make him happy”.
On the day of the alleged incident, the woman and the first accused were in text contact, which had a “flirty’ nature. The court heard the first accused asked her if she was “horny”, and he told her that he was going to “rally the box off ya”, which she said she thought was a joke.
Mr McGinn asked the woman if she was sure she didn’t ask him to bring friends and that she knew before he arrived that he was bringing friends. She said, “I wish I never asked him down in the first place because none of this would have ever happened”.
The trial continues before Mr Justice David Keane and a jury of six men and six women.
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.
