THERE was no physical intimacy between Mr Cathal Ryan and Ms Michelle Rocca on the night they stayed in Tullarris House Hotel, Co WicMow, four days before the alleged assault at nearby Blackhall Stud, Mr Ryan told the judge and jury.
Mr Ryan said he, his mother and brother were staying at the hotel. He phoned the Moloneys (at Blackhall Stud) and invited them over for dinner. They said Ms Rocca and her cousin were at Blackhall.
He told the Moloneys that if Ms Rocca and her cousin wanted to come along they would be more than welcome. They came over to dinner, which went on until about 12.30 a.m. The atmosphere was very cordial and quite relaxed.
Ms Rocca was relaxed. She was "much more together" than before and with a brighter disposition. When the Moloneys were going, Ms Rocca said she would take a taxi. He did not ask her to stay but he did not object to her staying.
Ms Rocca spent the night in his room, which was quite a large one.
Asked by Mr Garrett Cooney SC, for Mr Ryan, if there had been any intimacy, Mr Ryan replied that there was not. They spoke virtually all night in relation to times gone by. This was conversation at which Ms Rocca was particularly good. The conversation came back to Claudia and her welfare and access. There was no physical intimacy.
Mr Cooney: "The prurient indeed might say you could not spend a night in a bedroom.
Mr Ryan said she was very verbose. He had spent many nights talking all night to Ms Rocca. There was nothing unusual about that.
Asked if he had proposed marriage to Ms Rocca yet again, he said he most certainly did not propose marriage to her that night.
Asked if he would ever have contemplated marrying Ms Rocca and living with her, Mr Ryan replied that he did not think so under the circumstances and the history they had had.
Mr Cooney said it had been suggested he was a "Jekyll and Hyde", with a good side and a bad side. Mr Ryan said that was not correct. It was not correct that Ms Rocca often had to assist him because he was drunk and that he was violent in drink.
Asked if he had quick bursts of violence, Mr Ryan said he would be unemployable in his circumstances.
Questioned by Mr Cooney as to how much he had contributed towards Claudia, Mr Ryan said the figure was £100,000. He would continue to always maintain and support Claudia.
Asked about a meeting with Dr Stephen Murphy, Mr Ryan said he believed the doctor had called on two occasions. For the first meeting they mistook the locations. He did meet him at the Royal St George Yacht Club, of which Dr Murphy was a member. He (Mr Ryan) had never been there before or since.
Mr Ryan said he had suggested that place because it might be more private and informal. He (Mr Ryan) had hoped the meeting was going to be in relation to Claudia, but it was not. It was in terms of a possibility or what he believed was any chance of reconciliation with Ms Rocca.
He (Mr Ryan) had stated at the meeting that he did not think a reconciliation was remotely possible. He had never heard of Dr Murphy until May 1992.