A former nun accused of raping and indecently assaulting a girl in a childcare centre denied she had lesbian tendencies when questioned by gardai, the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
She denied aiding and abetting her male co-accused in raping the girl and denied also that he had ever been in girls' rooms in the centre, in which he had been reared some years before.
The former nun denied the woman's allegations that she had kissed her. She could "never even think of doing that", she said, suggesting that the woman, now 21, "must be making it up".
She said the complainant had alleged that her father raped her but had told her later that this was not true. The alleged victim was "devious" and had "a weird imagination for a child". The girl was "always fantasising", but had never complained to her of being raped by anyone.
The jury of four women and eight men heard Garda witnesses tell Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley, prosecuting, of the arrest and detention of the former nun on October 26th, 1996.
The former nun, now aged 51, and the 50-year-old man both deny two charges of raping the woman and two charges of having unlawful carnal knowledge of her on dates from January 1st, 1987, to January 31st, 1990, in a childcare centre in the south of the State. The former nun, who was in charge of the centre at the time, also denies four further charges of indecently assaulting the woman.
The jury heard that the former nun laughed when told that the young woman had alleged to gardai that the accused man had offered her £500 not to make a statement against her (the former nun). He would not have that kind of money, she said.
She denied that the alleged victim had ever slept in her bed. Some other girls had, when they were very young. She could not think why the complainant would make the allegations.
The hearing continues.