A naked married man woke up a teenage babysitter with his hand on her bottom and asked her for a kiss and if she would sleep with him, a court heard yesterday.
The girl, now 16, alleged it happened in a north Co Dublin caravan some time after she had heard the man and his wife making love in their own bed while she was sleeping on a sofa at the other end. She said that, after the incident, the defendant went to the toilet and then back to his bed. She waited until he was fast asleep and left at 5 a.m. to go to a neighbour's house.
The 30-year-old man has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one charge of sexual assault on the then 13-year-old on August 8th, 1996. He denied the girl's allegations, and both he and his wife denied they had made love that night.
Both claimed the alleged victim and a youth had been watching an "intimate" video which had naked men and women on it, and words were exchanged between the youth and the defendant, who had ordered him to leave.
The defendant's wife told Mr Brendan Grehan, defending, that her husband would have had to step over her in the bed to leave it. She was certain he had only left the bed a few minutes after they retired to get a drink of water and go to the toilet.
Earlier, the alleged victim told Ms Aileen Donnelly, prosecuting, she had been watching a television chat show when the couple returned. She had a short conversation with the defendant's wife before they all retired to bed.
Soon after she awoke to a "cold hand" on her bottom and sat up surprised. The naked defendant asked if he could kiss her. She replied "No". He asked her to sleep with him. She again told him "No" in strong terms. When he was asleep again she left the caravan.
The man told Mr Grehan the girl had come to his bedroom while he was undressing and asked for a cigarette. She stood grinning at him in his underwear and he shouted at her to get out.
In further reply to Mr Grehan, he said the girl might have made her allegations because he had shouted at her and the youth. He told the girl after that he wasn't cross with her and he had never done anything to her to cause her to make her claim.
Cross-examined by Ms Donnelly, the defendant agreed he had never told gardai about the video incident because he didn't think it was important until now in the trial. He didn't know why she left the caravan at 5 a.m.
The hearing continues.