A man told a jury in the Central Criminal Court yesterday he did not have sex with an 18-year-old woman he had met a short time earlier in a Drogheda nightclub.
The 24-year-old man claimed that in his flat they engaged in heavy petting, and smoked a cannabis cigarette on his bed. He tried to have sex, but stopped when the woman indicated she did not want intercourse. The woman became "flustered" and left in a hurry when she realised she was late for a lift home with her brother and sister. The accused has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape, oral rape and sexual assault early on September 10th, 1995.
He told his counsel, Mr Barry White SC, that he had met the woman at Man Friday's nightclub in Drogheda and they kissed and smoked a cannabis joint. They later walked to his flat to smoke another joint. The woman told him she had to catch a minibus, but went into his flat when they arrived there. He "skinned a joint", and they smoked it on his bed while engaging in heavy petting. They kissed, touched, and performed oral sex on each other, he said.
He was sexually aroused and he tried twice to have sexual intercourse with her. She said "no" and he stopped. She was not upset about this but became "flustered" because she was late for the lift in the minibus. She left in a hurry, the accused claimed.
He said he did not rape her, force her to perform oral sex against her will, threaten her or rip her panties.
He told Mr White that a memo of an interview he had with gardai on September 11th, 1995, did not accurately reflect the questions he was asked or the answers he gave.
The accused claimed that over 1 1/2 hours he was asked far more than the 21 questions recorded in the memo. The gardai would ask him a question, and before he could answer they would add their own suggestions as to what had taken place. Their suggestions were recorded as parts of his answers, he claimed.
Under cross-examination by Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, the accused denied he told gardai that he had been reckless as to whether the woman was consenting. He claimed he did not say, "For 10 minutes until the time she left I was forcing her to have sex".
The accused told Mr Justice Carney and the jury that he had not told the gardai that the woman had "closed her legs really tight" when he tried to have sex. He would not have used the words "fellatio" or "ejaculate", which appeared in answers recorded in the memo.
The trial continues.