An 18-year-old Cork man has told a jury that he tried to leave home after gardaí carried out house-to-house inquiries into the rape and murder of a 22-year-old woman because he feared he would be "in the horrors" over driving a motorcycle without tax and insurance.
The jury has heard that the man was reported missing by his parents on the night of October 28th, 2000, two days after the woman's body was found in a park in Ballincollig. Gardaí picked him up on a roadside between 11.30 and 12 midnight the same night.
The 18-year-old accused cannot be named for legal reasons. He denies the rape and murder of Ms Rachel Kiely (22) at the Regional Park, Ballincollig, Co Cork, on October 26th, 2000.
The jury has heard that DNA samples taken from him matched DNA recovered from her person. She was raped and strangled as she brought two family dogs for a walk on the evening of October 26th, 2000.
The accused man told a Central Criminal Court jury that he knew her just "to salute her" and did not meet her on the night she died.
He was in the witness stand yesterday giving evidence in his own defence to his lawyer, Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC.
He said he was "messing around" on his motorbike in the Regional Park, Ballincollig, on the night of the killing, arriving in the park at around 5:20 p.m. and leaving it at around 6:30 p.m.
He left a bottle found with his fingermark on it in the park the previous weekend, he said.
He agreed that when a garda called to his parents' house on October 28th as part of a house-to-house initial inquiry, he lied about his activities on October 26th. He was afraid of telling the gardaí that he drove his motorcycle to work without tax and insurance.
Two weeks previously, another garda had called to the house and handed him "a green form", he said. The garda told him he saw him driving the bike without tax and insurance.
Under cross-examination by Mr P.J. McCarthy SC, prosecuting, he also agreed that following the garda questions on October 28th, he left home with the intention of going to Kilkenny. He thought he was "in serious trouble" over his motorbike, he said, and decided to go to Kilkenny to stay with a girl he had met three years previously while on holiday in Mosney.
He had been told "by some people" he would get three years in prison and could be up in court in two weeks, he said. Cross-examination continues today.