A Drogheda man accused of raping a woman in his flat after a disco is alleged to have told gardai he had been reckless and tried to have sex despite her objections.
The Central Criminal Court yesterday heard Garda claims that the man said: "For 10 minutes until the time she left, I was forcing her to have sex".
Garda witnesses denied suggestions by Mr Barry White SC, defending, that the memo of inter view with the man did not reflect all the questions they asked or the answers they received.
"I suggest this document is your interpretation rather than the very words spoken by the accused, or it is a combination of answers by the accused," Mr White said. Gardai denied this was true.
Garda Cora Whelan and Sgt John McKeown both said the man stated: "I was reckless as to whether she was consenting or not." Mr White noted this was one of the legal definitions in the Rape Acts.
Garda Whelan disagreed with Mr White that she was a "raw rookie" when she interviewed the man. She said she had passed out from Templemore and was in her probationary year, based at Dundalk Garda station, when the interview took place. She also denied a suggestion she had not been objective following the complaint of rape and that she had prejudged the accused.
Asked about references in her note book to the "attacker" and the "IP" (injured party), Garda Whelan replied: "I would have considered her an injured party from the word go but I still consider myself as objective".
The 24-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape, oral rape and sexual assault of the woman, now aged 20, in his flat on the early morning of September 10th, 1995.
Garda Whelan told Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley, prosecuting, that the woman made a complaint of rape against the man at 10 p.m. on September 10th, 1995. She brought the woman to Louth County Hospital where a doctor pointed out multiple bruises on the alleged victim's body.
The next day, with Sgt Mc Keown, she went to the accused man's flat. He was arrested and brought to Drogheda Garda station. Garda Whelan said she asked the man what he did on September 9th, 1995. He told her he went to the river with a few friends for a drink at about 10.30 p.m. He drank a bottle of wine and had a few beers.
At about midnight they walked to Man Friday's nightclub where he met the woman at about 1 a.m. and began talking to her.
Asked if he kissed her, he said: "Yea, actually there's an upstairs in Man Friday's and we went up and were snogging. We had a joint. Snogging is the same as kissing." Garda Whelan and Sgt McKeown said the man claimed they left to go back to his flat where they were going to have a joint. Before this she said she had to get a bus home.
Asked about what happened in his flat, he said: "We had a joint. I think I put some music on, it would be normal for me, you know what I mean." Both gardai said he told them how he and the woman had kissed before he led her on to the bed.
Asked if the woman said anything, the man said: "I tried to have sex with her but she said `no, no' and closed her legs really tight." He said she performed After he ejaculated on her legs or on the bed, she said she had to meet her friends and she left. He agreed he was drunk and, asked whether the woman was upset, said she was. He tried having sex with her several times despite her saying "no, no". "She was struggling and tried to push me off her. I was using force . . . I was reckless as to whether she was consenting or not but when I realised I was mad, the whole situation was fucking crazy, I rolled off her."
The trial before Mr Justice Carney and the jury continues.