Man on trial accused of kidnapping and raping his partner

A man has gone on trial accused of kidnapping and raping his partner after she obtained a barring order against him.

The woman told the Central Criminal Court she obtained the barring order against the father of her children following what she said was five years of extreme abuse in the relationship.

The woman who is in her late 20s alleged that the man regularly beat her and locked her and the children in their apartment for hours at a time. The apartment was flooded and rat infested at the time, she said.

She said he also urinated on her and her son and said he could kill her and make it look like suicide.

On the night of the alleged kidnapping she alleged he drove her at speed on the wrong side of the road and told her she was going to die with him that night.

The accused has pleaded not guilty to rape, false imprisonment, breaching a barring order and production of an article in November 2015 and four counts of assault causing harm between 2011 and 2015.

“It was a very violent and vicious relationship,” the woman told prosecuting counsel Brendan Grehan SC. “If I had good days I was over the moon. There weren’t many of them.”

She said she “got a lot of beatings” and “they weren’t normal beatings. I got a lot of beatings into my head.”

The couple lived in 17 difference places around the country during their relationship. She said this was because the man couldn’t settle anywhere, adding “I just went along with it, whatever made him happy.”

She said the accused exploited her fear of water by washing her hair “like I was a child” and holding her head under the water. Once while she was in the bath he told her “I could drown you on the spot and make it look like you committed suicide”, she alleged.

She said another time he came into the kitchen and held a knife to her throat before laughing about it. On another occasion he gave her a black eye while she was pregnant immediately before her waters broke, she alleged.

The complainant said the accused’s mother would advise him how to cover up the injuries using make-up.

She said when she asked once if she could go to the gym he said “Why? So men can be looking at you? I’ll put the teeth down your throat.”

It was after this that she decided to leave him for good and take the children to her sisters. She also obtained a barring order against him.

In November 2014 she was in her sister’s house when the accused allegedly came in the back door and physically lifted her out of the house.

She said the accused drove her around country roads. She said he was speeding and driving around the wrong side of the road with no lights on. They had nearly hit a lorry when he allegedly told her “you’re going to die with me tonight.”

They ended up at the accused’s friend’s house. She said she told a woman in the house that she had been kidnapped but the woman wouldn’t help her.

She said the accused was laughing with his friend that he had kidnapped the woman and that he was going to jail.

At one stage gardaí­ arrived searching for the accused. She said he brought her out the back door and held a bottle to her neck while his friend got rid of the officers.

Later in the night she said he started groping her and asked her if they could have sex. She said she agreed because she was terrified. Afterwards he fell asleep and she escaped to a neighbour who refused to help her. Another neighbour then brought her in and called gardaí­.

The trial continues on Monday with the woman's cross-examination before Ms Justice Carmel Stewart and a jury.