A Spanish tourist who was allegedly raped in Dublin city centre while celebrating New Year’s Eve six years ago has denied she was seen on CCTV footage being “affectionate” with her alleged rapist.
A 33-year-old Louth man has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to one count of rape on January 1st, 2019. He can’t be named for legal reasons.
It is the State’s case that the man raped the woman on a street in the Dublin Castle area and that the woman didn’t consent and was unable to consent due to the effects of alcohol or another drug. The man denies any wrongdoing.
The court has heard the woman had been in town to watch the fireworks that night when she got separated from her friend and came into contact with the accused man outside a shop. She told the court she was trying to find a bar in which to meet her friend and the man walked her through town to a dark area where the alleged rape occurred.
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The woman said she felt “like a doll” and didn’t have any strength in her body during the alleged incident. Afterwards, the court has heard she walked with the man back through the city centre, where she got talking to a couple – a man and woman – outside a shop and parted ways with the accused man.
The complainant was cross-examined on Monday by Pádraig Dwyer SC, who put it to her that after the alleged rape, CCTV footage showed she was in the man’s company between 2.17am and 3.13am before they separated.
Giving evidence through a Spanish interpreter, the woman denied a defence assertion that while walking through town after the alleged incident, she was seen on CCTV footage holding on to the man “the way a woman who is affectionate with a man might hold on to his elbow”.
“It wasn’t with affection,” the woman replied. “I was frightened.” She said she was putting all her weight on the man because she “wasn’t able to walk correctly”.
When asked if she held his hand, she replied: “If I did hold his hand, it was just not to fall over.”
The woman agreed with defence counsel that the streets were busy, but said she did not alert anyone because she “couldn’t really focus”, her sight was blurry and she couldn’t see anything.
The woman told the court that when she got talking to the couple, the woman told her she was “in a dangerous place, with a dangerous man”. Defence counsel asserted the woman did not say this.
After she had left the company of the accused man, the court has heard the woman from the couple also left and the complainant asked the second man to help her find a hotel. They went to a B&B and once there, started kissing. The woman told the court she was afraid and the man was “very persistent”. She said they had anal sex, that it was very sore and she persuaded him to stop.
She eventually found her accommodation and the man left. She said that when she woke up the next day, “I realised I had two rapes and there might be a medical issue with that.” She went to hospital.
The jury has been told that no charge has been brought against the second man.
Mr Dwyer put it to the woman that she was seen on CCTV footage “hugging” the second man outside the B&B. He submitted she had “both arms around his neck” and that she was a “willing participant” in the kissing and sexual activity that took place.
“I just needed someone to look after me,” the woman said. “It doesn’t mean I wanted to have sex with anyone, it just means I needed help and he took advantage of that situation to insist on kisses on numerous occasions. In the state I was in, it was more difficult to say no.”
The woman said she could also be seen at one point in the footage pushing the second man away. “Coercion isn’t participating,” she said.
She agreed the word “coercion” did not appear in her statement, but added: “Coercion is a word I can use six years later ... It was coercion in the state I was in.”
The trial continues before Ms Justice Caroline Biggs and a jury.
