A Dublin man told a garda he did not rape his former girlfriend in August 1997, a jury at the Central Criminal Court was told yesterday.
But he agreed that on previous occasions when he wanted sex with her and she did not consent, he became violent and forced her to have intercourse.
He claimed this had happened only once or twice.
Earlier Mr Gregory Murphy SC, defending, described his client's relationship with the 37-year-old alleged victim as "tempestuous" and characterised by fights followed by love-making.
The woman denied a suggestion by Mr Murphy that she made the rape complaint because she found the man was involved with another woman. She said she was glad about the affair as she had been attempting to leave the man for three years due to his violence.
She added: "This is a very sick man. He is a danger to women and he has beaten his own wife and children."
The 42-year-old man, who is separated and is the father of five children, has pleaded not guilty to raping the woman at his home in Dublin on August 18th, 1997. He also denies assault charges.
Garda Denis Kenny told Mr Ralph Sutton SC, prosecuting, he had interviewed the man at Ronanstown Garda station on August 19th.
He put it to the man that because of their five-year relationship he looked on the woman as his "property" and believed he could have sex with her whenever he wanted.
The garda added: "If she does not give her consent, you fight with her and it ends up with physical violence, resulting in you having sex with her because she just lies there and lets you do what you want to her."
The man replied: "Yes, I have a problem with my temper. It's a violent temper. I do not take drugs but I do drink. I would say that a lot of this temper is shown when I have alcohol taken but I do not feel I have a drink problem."
When Garda Kenny asked what he understood rape to be, the man said: "I don't know. I suppose if you tear the clothes off someone, be violent towards them and beat the shit out of them."
Asked if it was rape for a man to have intercourse with a woman against her will even when there was no violence, he said:
"No. I think that after a relationship of five years this would be normal."
When asked if he believed the alleged victim was too afraid of him to refuse sex, he said: "No."
He added: "There has been loads of times that I did not want sex and she did and I would have to give it to her."
He said he did not think he had sex with the woman on August 18th but he could not be sure.
Garda Kenny asked him what he felt about the alleged victim since his arrest.
The man said: "Nothing. I am glad that she done it and made the complaint to you. I feel that lately I am getting out of hand with her. I am becoming more violent and find it hard to control my temper.
"I have often asked her to get me help and maybe by this happening it will push me towards getting some sort of professional help.
"I didn't understand that I was raping her on all the other occasions that I did, but I felt that after a lengthy relationship with any woman, that this would happen in normal life," he said.
The trial continues today.