A man accused of raping a student who was allegedly too drunk to consent made no comment when he was told his semen was found on her underwear, his trial has heard.
The jury in the Central Criminal Court trial previously heard that the defendant (29) had already denied having any sexual activity with the complainant.
He and a co-accused (33), both non-nationals living in Co Donegal, have pleaded not guilty to two counts of raping the woman in a Co Donegal town in February 2015. The complainant is now aged in her 20s.
The prosecution ended its case on Friday afternoon and the defence teams told the jury they did not intend to call any witnesses.
The jury of seven men and four women will on Monday hear closing speeches from prosecution and defence lawyers. Mr Justice Alex Owens told the jurors that they will likely begin deliberations on Tuesday after he has given them his charge.
The jury was told on Friday that the younger defendant was re-arrested on March 16th, 2016, on foot of gardaí obtaining a report from forensic scientist Dr David Casey.
Retrieved
Dr Casey previously told the jury that he used DNA to link semen found on the complainant’s underwear to the accused. He said semen found inside a condom retrieved from a bin in the flat where the alleged rapes took place also matched the accused.
Swabs taken outside of this condom showed a high concentration of DNA matching the profile of the complainant. Dr Casey said he would expect to see this concentration if vaginal intercourse took place.
Gardaí told the accused that these findings may reasonably be attributed to his participation in the alleged rape. They told him he had an opportunity to account for this evidence and that a judge could take a failure or refusal to do so into account.
Questioned about the semen found in the underwear, the defendant said “no comment”.
He made the same reply when asked to account for his semen being found on the condom.