ON the third day of his trial a Kerry factory worker claimed his alleged rape victim asked him for sex and initiated sexual intercourse between them by climbing on top of him in her car.
Earlier in the Central Criminal Court, the 29 year old alleged victim was recalled to the witness box at the conclusion of the prosecution case by Mr Patrick Gageby SC (with Mr Martin Collins), defending, and denied she had ever had a sexual liaison with her husband's former employer as alleged by counsel.
Later in the hearing, after the defendant began his evidence at the start of the defence case, Mr Justice Morris told the alleged victim and her husband to stop what he called their "extravagant shows of emotion".
"If you cannot conduct yourselves, leave the court. The choice is yours," the judge said. The woman's husband was seen to be crying at this point and he got up immediately from his wife's side and left the court.
During cross examination of the defendant by Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC (with Ms Miriam Malone), prosecuting it emerged that a solicitor for the alleged victim and her husband wrote to the defendant stating they would institute civil proceedings against him arising out of the rape allegation.
It also emerged that shortly before that, the defendant's solicitor had written to the alleged injured party and her husband threatening to get an injunction against them for alleged intimidation.
The 27 year old defendant denies he raped the woman, sexually assaulted her and assaulted her occasioning actual bodily harm on May 4th, 1993, near a large Kerry town.
The alleged victim denied a suggestion by Mr Gageby that she had gone to a named man's room in a Kerry hotel on a date in early May 1993 after drinking with him at the bar.
She said the man asked her to go with him to his room and she refused. "I was shocked at his request," she told the jury.
Replying to Mr Vaughan Buckley, she said her husband's employment with the man's company ended soon after this incident. She claimed the company had reneged on an offer to pay 50 per cent of the cost of a car for him and had left them with telephone bills of amounts such as £700 to pay themselves.
Dr Blathnaid Regan said her medical examination of the alleged victim neither confirmed nor ruled out the possibility of rape. The woman was crying and distressed when she met her and her clothes were torn.
The defendant told the jury he was in a fast food shop with another man already named in the trial when the alleged victim came in about 12.30 am. She told him he looked "cute" since he lost weight. They said they planned to get a taxi home and she offered them a lift to the village.
The accused man said the woman again told him he "looked gorgeous" in the car.
After they dropped his friend near his house, the defendant said she "asked me to have sex with me and I said `no'." But the woman stopped the car and after saying she really wanted to have sex with him, came over on top of him and caused sexual intercourse to happen by sitting on his penis.
In further reply to Mr Gageby, the accused said this sexual intercourse continued for about five minutes. He then pushed her over to the driver's seat. She pulled up some of her clothes and ran from the car to a house.
In cross examination by Mr Vaughan Buckley, the defendant said he accepted there were much quieter places than a busy crossroads for courting couples, but added that he did not stop the car. The woman had made the suggestion of sexual intercourse and had "come over" him.
Asked by Mr Vaughan Buckley if he was suggesting the alleged victim had raped him, the accused replied: "She came over to me. I didn't rape her".
Counsel: Are you trying to tell the jury that far from raping her she raped you and ripped your zip down?
Defendant: No.
Counsel: Are you saying you were resisting?
Defendant: Yes, she wanted to have sex with me.
The hearing continues today.