An Offaly man has denied at the Central Criminal Court that he raped a teenage schoolgirl in his flat shortly after he met her at a disco in Tullamore in 1997.
The accused told Mr Justice Patrick Smith and the jury of seven men and five women that the girl, who was 17, consented to sexual activity but said she would not have sex without him using a condom.
The accused claimed in reply to defence counsel Mr Barry White SC that after intercourse the alleged victim initiated oral sex which continued for a short time. He said she offered no resistance at any time to him and had not at any time said "no" nor "stop", nor shouted for help.
The now 21-year-old single and unemployed man denies raping the schoolgirl, sexually assaulting her and orally raping her on May 3rd, 1997.
They went to his flat after meeting at a disco, and after intercourse began she asked if he had a condom. When he replied he did not, she said she would not have sex without a condom.
He said she initiated oral sex and that he did not become rough at any time as she had claimed. Cross-examined by prosecuting counsel Mr Gerard Clarke SC, he agreed he was "amazed" at having such sexual activity with a young girl he had only met a little over one hour earlier.
He had never spoken to her before that night but knew her name and had seen her around Tullamore many times. The accused denied the alleged victim's bra was torn "in a fit of roughness" as suggested by prosecuting counsel.
"I didn't turn rough," he said. "If she didn't want me to do these things with her she would have told me to stop," he said. He didn't know then she was just over 17 years old and had assumed she was 18 or 19 since she was at the disco. The hearing continues.