A Bosnian national went on trial at the Central Criminal Court yesterday, charged with raping a prostitute in his Dublin home two years ago. The 49-year-old woman said she had worked as a prostitute before the incident on July 1st, 1995, but no longer did so.
She said she agreed a £60 fee with the man to go to his house for two hours and she told him he would have to use a condom.
Replying to Mr Sean Ryan SC, prosecuting, she said that when they were naked in his bedroom he refused to wear a condom, forced her on to the bed and twice had sex with her against her will. He also forced her to perform oral sex.
She denied a suggestion by Mr Peter Charleton SC, for the defence, that she consented to unprotected sexual intercourse after the man said to return the money and leave if she insisted on the use of a condom.
The man has pleaded not guilty to two charges of rape and one charge of oral rape of the woman at his Dublin suburban home. An interpreter was appointed to translate the court proceedings for the man.
Opening the case, Mr Ryan told the jury of seven women and five men that it would have to face up to the risk of prejudice against the woman as she had been a prostitute - both the woman and the accused were entitled to justice.
"This is not a tribunal of morals. You are not here to decide whether it is morally acceptable to be a prostitute, or whether it is acceptable to pay money to a prostitute for sex," he said.
Mr Ryan said that simply because the woman worked as a prostitute did not prevent her refusing consent for intercourse.
She said she had been on Fitzwilliam Square in Dublin with a friend, who was also a prostitute, when the accused arrived in a taxi. Her friend told him she charged £150 for two hours. The witness said the accused did not want to pay that amount and she agreed to go with him for £60 for protected sex.
She told the court that on occasions, men requested unprotected sex but she would not agree to that for fear of contracting AIDS or another disease.
When they got into his house he locked the front door and explained that his neighbours didn't like him. When she produced a condom he said he would not wear one. She replied that she would not have sex without one and he forced himself on her, she claimed.
On July 6th she spoke to a nun and they went to gardai.
The trial continues.