Woman denies lying about sex claims

A Down's Syndrome woman has denied making up stories that she had sex with her work supervisor and told a defence counsel she…

A Down's Syndrome woman has denied making up stories that she had sex with her work supervisor and told a defence counsel she was annoyed with him for suggesting she was lying.

The 39-year-old Galway woman told the jury that she and her supervisor showed affection for each other by having sex.

The 56-year-old accused has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 16 counts of unlawful sexual intercourse on dates between 1993 and 1996 and to 18 counts of sexual assault on dates between 1992 and 1996. It was the second day of the trial.

The woman told defence counsel Mr Barry White SC that she had sex with her supervisor in a shower room in their workplace on a date she could not remember. When it was suggested to her that she never had sex with him, she replied: "I'm telling you I had. I'm annoyed that you would suggest to me that he didn't have sex with me in that shower room."

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She remembered that the accused sexually assaulted her when they were returning from a work outing. Asked why she didn't make a complaint at the time, she replied: "It's not something you'd talk about."

Earlier she told prosecuting counsel Mr Patrick McCarthy SC (with Ms Mary Ellen Ring) that she never had sex with her supervisor after the work outing but he sometimes hugged her and once kissed her on the lips. When her evidence was finished she said: "Yet again I would like to thank the jury, the judge and the legal team."

Another supervisor in the woman's workplace told Ms Ring that on one occasion in September 1995, he went into a room where the accused and the alleged victim were standing "fairly close to one another". He walked in between them and used the phone and they left the room.

The woman's family doctor told Ms Ring that the woman agreed to a medical examination in September 1996. It was his opinion that she had sexual intercourse in the past but not in recent times.