Man denies rape of girl, 13, after drinks party

A MAN on trial on charges of raping a 13-year-old girl denied forcing her to perform oral sex on him. He said he would not have done so because he was self-conscious about having only one testicle.

The accused man gave evidence yesterday on the second day of his trial at the Central Criminal Court in Cork and denied raping the teenager twice in the toilet of a flat after a drinks party.

The alleged rapes occurred on a Saturday afternoon in May 2008. She made a complaint to gardaí in February 2010.

Asked how he felt when the allegations were put to him, he said it turned his life upside down. The accused, who is now 24, denied all of the sexual allegations.

He said that on the day three years ago he was in the bathroom getting sick when the 13-year-old came in after him. He said he was self-conscious about his weight and had pushed his fingers down his throat to force himself to vomit.

Cross-examined by Marjorie Farrelly, senior counsel for the prosecution, the accused said that when he was getting out of the bathroom past the complainant he could have lifted her up, or brushed her aside or accidentally touched her breast. He said if anything like that happened, it was not in a sexual way.

Ms Farrelly said: “You were almost two different generations. She was 13. You were a 21-year-old working man... This was a second-year schoolgirl sitting on a couch, (you) giving her drink. Was it unusual for you to be giving her drink?” The defendant said: “Everyone was socialising. I wasn’t pressuring her to drink.”

He said he only said sorry in a text because he had been sick in front of her.

Addressing the jury, Tom Creed, senior counsel, said: “You might have expected to hear about blood if a virgin was violated, but the first people who heard about that were the 12 of you. She did not tell the gardaí. I think you should give that serious consideration when considering her credibility.”

Mr Justice Paul Carney will conclude his address to the jury today.