MS SARAH LINTON, under cross examination, said that Ms Michelle Rocca attacked her, hit her and swung her round the room by the hair but she denied she punched or kicked her.
Mr Liam Reidy SC, for Ms Rocca, asked if on the Friday night before the party, she stayed at Kilboy, Tipperary, the Ryans home. She said she did. She had her own room. On the Saturday, Mr Cathal Ryan informed her that Ms Rocca would be at the party.
Mr Reidy asked if Mr Ryan had told her that he had spent the previous Wednesday evening in a bedroom at Tulfarris House with Ms Rocca. Ms Linton said he did not. Mr Reidy asked if he had told her, would she have gone to the party. She said she would. Asked if she would not have felt this was a betrayal, Ms Linton said it would not have mattered.
Mr Justice Moriarty said that Ms Rocca had said they did share some sexual activity, Mr Ryan said they had lain together and there was no sexual contact. Mr Reidy said to Ms Linton that her answer was that it would not have mattered to her.
They arrived at the party at about 8.30 p.m. and Ms Rocca arrived half an hour to an hour afterwards. Ms Linton was tired and wanted to go to bed. It was before midnight. There was nobody in the room when she got there. When Mr Ryan and Ms Rocca had left the room she realised there was another person there.
Mr Reidy asked if she had any conversation with the person in the other bed. She said: "No, absolutely not. He was lying very still. He was wide awake and hem was staring at me. He was not moving at all."
Mr Reidy said it had been suggested by Mr Ryan and Mr David Marshall that Ms Rocca dragged Ms Linton from the bed by the hair.
Ms Linton: "I don't recall that was the way it happened."
Mr Reidy said Mr Ryan had said that Ms Rocca, having dragged her from the bed, then threw her on the floor and punched and kicked her.
Ms Linton: "That's not true."
Mr Reidy said that Mr Ryan said, and it was put to Ms Rocca as well, that Ms Linton was kicked and punched in the middle of the room.
Ms Linton said: "That's not how I recall it."
Counsel asked if her recollection was that all Mr Ryan did at any stage was grapple with Ms Rocca and pushed her out the door on two occasions.
Ms Linton: "Yes."
Mr Reidy: "At no stage did Mr Ryan slap her or punch her?"
Ms Linton: "No."
Counsels aid he was showing Ms Linton photographs taken of Ms Rocca's injuries two days after the alleged incident. He asked Ms Linton if she saw anything that could have caused injuries of that kind to Ms Rocca. Could the jury take it, that insofar as Ms Rocca suffered the injuries, whoever did it was away from Ms Linton's eyesight and it occurred outside the door?
Ms Linton: "Yes."
Mr Reidy asked if once Ms Rocca was outside the door, the door was closed while she (Ms Linton) was shocked and was afraid.
Ms Linton: "I was extremely afraid and was frightened to leave the room as I might be met with another onslaught."
Mr Reidy: "I suggest to you that no stage did Ms Rocca attack you in the manner you describe."
Ms Linton: "She attacked me when I was asleep. She was hitting me in the face, then when I was in the centre of the room, the second time she came in, she got my hair and swung me around the room.
On the Monday morning she went to her doctor in Tipperary. She had left the Ryans on Sunday evening to go back to Fethard. Mr Ryan's brother, Mr Declan Ryan, had suggested that maybe she should see a doctor the next day.
Mr Reidy asked Ms Linton if she was contacted by Mr Ryan in Italy about the case. She said he contacted her on the Wednesday evening (after the case had started) to ask if she would consider coming. She said she would think about it. Her solicitor, Mr John Power, had been in touch before that the same evening Asked if she had consulted with Mr Ryan before giving her evidence, she said she did not.
Ms Fidelma Macken SC, for Mr Ryan, re examining, asked what her view on coming to give evidence was.
"I was extremely reluctant. I had no desire to be involved and relive the whole evening again," she said.