A Dublin man has accused a woman - who claims he raped her as she slept in a bed with a female friend - of lying. The 20year-old accused man has pleaded not guilty in the Central Criminal Court to raping the woman, now aged 19, on May 25th, 1996.
Yesterday he said he did not rape her and he did not know why she was claiming he had. The court heard the woman and her friend were sleeping in a single bed after a drinking session in her former boyfriend's house. The accused man and the host were sleeping on a bed in another room.
The defendant told his counsel, Mr Barry White SC, he believed the alleged victim and the host were still going out with each other. Her friend had agreed, he said, to let him sleep in a bed beside her. He went to a room with this young woman and they lay on a bed. He removed his jeans and they talked for a while before he fell asleep. When he woke up, the party host was lying beside him.
He went to another bedroom and found the two women fast asleep in a single bed. He tried to wake the alleged victim to get her to go into the host so he could get in beside her friend. She didn't wake up. He then unsuccessfully tried to wake the host before making a second attempt to wake the alleged victim. When this failed, he lay down on the single bed, head to toe with the woman, and fell asleep. He was dressed in boxers and a T-shirt.
Some time later he awoke to hear a woman screaming. The host told him she was claiming he had removed her panties. He replied that she was mad if she was saying this and she should go to gardai if she had a complaint.
Cross-examined by Mr Liam Reidy SC, prosecuting, he agreed her friend had denied in evidence that he was to share a bed with her. He insisted the arrangement had been made but he agreed he was not suggesting they had an agreement to have sex.
He said he wanted to "meet her" but he did not know what he would have done if he was allowed into her bed. Asked about the prospect of sex, he added: "If it happened, I was not going to object." He accepted he had not kissed, cuddled or had any sexual contact with the complainant's friend before going to bed.
It had not occurred to him to try and wake up the friend instead of the alleged victim, neither had it occurred to him to give up after his first attempts at waking the alleged victim and the host had failed. He agreed with Mr Reidy that his actions had not been "dulled by drink" as he had only drank six small bottles of German lager before retiring for the night.
The trial continues.