A JURY in the trial of a businessman who claims his cholesterol medication made him sexually assault a woman has been warned not to get “bamboozled” by scientific evidence.
Anthony Lyons (51), an aviation broker from Griffith Avenue in Dublin, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the sexual assault of a 27-year-old woman in the early hours of October 3rd, 2010. Mr Lyons admits the attack but claims he was overcome with an “irresistible urge” due to the combination of alcohol, the cholesterol medicine Rosuvastatin and cough syrup.
In his closing speech, prosecuting counsel Kerida Naidoo warned the jury about “not seeing the wood for the trees” and thinking the case revolved around the effects of the medication.
He said the case was not about science but about what had been going through Mr Lyons’s head. “This is as clear a case of wilful sexual assault as you are going to come across.” Referring to an expert witness called by the defence to testify on possible violent effects of cholesterol medication, he warned the jury not to get “bamboozled” by science.
Mr Naidoo said if it was true that the medication caused the attack, it would be the first such case ever recorded. He said when arrested Mr Lyons had completely denied the sexual assault but that he later came up with “plan B – the cholesterol-made-me-do-it plan”.
Defence counsel Patrick Gageby SC made a closing statement calling Mr Naidoo’s speech “a skilful hatchet job” on the accused.
He said the scientific and circumstantial evidence were the prosecution’s weakest points, adding Mr Lyons has no history of such behaviour and it was completely out of character for him.
He pointed to evidence given by Mr Lyons’s wife and friend who said they were shocked when they learned of the incident. The jury is expected to begin deliberations today after being charged by Judge Desmond Hogan.