A woman alleges that a man raped her after she accepted a lift from him, when he found her crying due to a dispute with her boyfriend. The jury at the Central Criminal Court was told on the first day of the trial of a Limerick man that she claims he raped and sexually assaulted her on the passenger seat of his car, in a dark rural area.
The 37-year-old accused has pleaded not guilty to three charges of rape, oral rape and aggravated sexual assault on November 16th, 1996.
Prosecuting counsel Mr Paul O'Higgins said the 21-year-old woman was with her boyfriend on the evening of November 15th, 1996.
They took a cab into the centre of Limerick city at midnight. At approximately 3 a.m. a row ensued between them over another man "eyeing" her in a pub. The two then decided to go to their homes.
Mr O'Higgins said the accused then approached the woman to offer comfort, as she was crying. She had known him previously for four to five months as a bouncer at a nightclub she frequented.
He gave her a lift home and they stopped at a filling station. It was here he suggested they both go to his friend's place.
Mr O'Higgins told the jury of six men and six women that the two-stopped to relieve themselves behind the car. Counsel said that on his return he tried to kiss her and move her seat back.
She claimed he pulled down her tights and panties and scared her into taking her skirt off herself before he pulled down his pants and raped her. Mr O'Higgins said the woman would say he ejaculated inside her and then orally raped her while she protested.
He threw her out at a roundabout, where she hailed a taxi and complained she was raped.
The trial continues before Ms Justice McGuinness and a jury of six women and six men.