A co Monaghan businessman has pleaded guilty to five charges of raping a shop assistant in his premises over six years. The married man, who cannot be named to protect his victim, has been remanded on £50,000 bail for sentence by the Central Criminal Court on May 7th.
The 53-year-old man's guilty plea came on the third day of his trial following almost a day of legal argument in the absence of the jury, during which a transcript of a tape-recording made by the victim in 1995 of a conversation she had with him was read out.
The victim, gardai and civilian witnesses also gave evidence during the trial within the trial about the circumstances in which the recording was made and handled. Mr Justice Budd later ruled that the recording was admissible in evidence.
The defendant was then re-arraigned in the presence of the jury and pleaded guilty to five charges of rape on dates unknown from June 1979 to December 1984. He had pleaded not guilty originally to 27 charges of raping the woman over the period from 1975 to 1985.