Cleared of rape using broom handle
The man, who cannot be named, had pleaded not guilty to raping the woman by penetrating her anus and vagina with a broom handle at the house in Kerry on Jan 7, 2011.
The jury took over eight hours to return a not guilty verdict on both counts on day five of the trial at the Central Criminal Court.
The complainant claimed she remembered “a lot of shouting going on” from others at the party while she lay on her back staring up at a Christmas tree.
She said she had had a lot to drink and recalled experiencing “not a normal pain” as she drifted in and out of consciousness. She alleged the man put a broom in her anus and vagina.
She told Michael Durack SC, prosecuting, she stayed at her mother’s home for a while after the incident and eventually went to a male friend’s house to drink.
Gardaí came to the house after this friend told them her allegations and she was brought to hospital.
Brendan Grehan SC, defending, put it to the woman that the hospital reported no injuries to her private parts.
A witness told Mr Durack he had seen the man insert the handle into the complainant while making “sexual noises and imitating having sex”.
Another witness said he found the sight of the man inserting a broom handle into the woman’s vagina “extreme”.
He said the woman had made no reaction as she lay on the floor.
The accused told gardaí he had been drunk and could not recall the complainant being at the party.
He denied using a brush to penetrate the woman. When asked if she was lying, he said: “Yes, must be.”
He denied sexually assaulting the woman and said he did not know why she would make such a claim.
