An elderly woman was attacked and raped as she took her dog for an early-morning walk in Albert Park near Dublin City University, a jury heard yesterday.
The man who found her an hour after the attack, which happened last year, told the Central Criminal Court that she was like someone "left for dead". He raised the alarm and she was brought to hospital.
A Ballymun man has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape, aggravated sexual assault and sexual assault of the woman, who is in her 70s, on August 5th, 1996.
The accused man, in his 30s, has also pleaded not guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent to maim, disfigure or disable her and another charge of wounding her with intent.
To avoid any further trauma to the victim, the man's defence team agreed she would not have to give evidence in open court.
Her statement was read to Mr Justice McCracken and the jury of six men and six women by prosecution counsel Mr Peter Charleton SC. She told gardai that she had gone to the park on the bank holiday between 8.30 and 8.45 a.m. The only other person there was a jogger. She planned to walk around the park with her dog before going to Mass at 10.00 a.m.
She was walking towards the Ballymun Road side of the park when a man appeared before her. She next remembered being on the ground and she assumed he had hit her.
She said she called for help and tried to get her dog to intervene but he only barked.
She could not remember the rape as she apparently lost consciousness during the attack.
She could not describe the assailant but said it was not the jogger she had seen earlier.
Mr Charleton said witnesses who were in their houses at the time would say they heard a dog barking and high-pitched screams. It was now known these screams came from the victim.
Medical evidence would also be given of extensive bruising to the woman's face and body, he said.
The trial continues.