I was happily married, says man accused of funfair rape

The man on trial for raping a 12-year-old girl at a funfair more than 20 years ago said yesterday that it never happened and that he was a happily married man.

“It is totally untrue, I never touched the girl. I was happily married. I was only a couple of months married (at the time). I am still with my wife today,” the 49-year-old testified on the second day of his trial at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork yesterday.

He told his senior counsel, Tom Creed, that he had attended several social occasions also attended by the complainant over the years since the alleged incident and that she never made any such claim over the years. He said they never even had an argument.