A TEENAGE girl yesterday told of a diary that listed names of older men she either had sex with or “shifted” when a schoolgirl.
The girl told a jury of nine men and three women that she kept the list of names so she would know the father in case she became pregnant. She was 13 at the time. Now 19, she was giving evidence in the trial of a 34-year-old married man who denies six charges of sexually assaulting her between June 1st and November 30th, 2003.
The girl told a special sitting of Donegal Circuit Court the sex sessions started when she completed sixth class. She described sex in the defendant’s car in woodlands near a south Co Donegal town. She said she had drink taken when the defendant invited her for a spin when they had sex for the first time on June 20th, 2003.
She told the defendant that night she was 13. She knew he was then in his late 20s. “He said I was very good-looking, too good-looking for my age, and that I ought to go back to school,” she told the court. Before the fourth sex session he brought beer “in case I wanted a drink”.
On Halloween, when her two friends were in the car, she played the defendant's Dirty DancingCD. Later, during text exchanges when the defendant realised her friend had the CD, he said he expected "sexual favours" if she wanted to keep it. When told the friend wouldn't agree, he texted: "You have to share some times."
Earlier, prosecutor Eileen O’Leary SC told the jury and Judge Ray Fullam: “The law is designed to protect children not only from lustful men but also from themselves.” It was not alleged that the girl did not consent to sex or that the defendant forced himself on her or coerced her in any way.
The hearing continues today.