Jury out in mayor’s sex assault case

The jury in the trial of the former lord mayor of Cork on charges of sexually assaulting a teenaged girl in the 1990s is due to make a decision today.

John Murray, aged 83, of 17 Gregg Rd, Cork, a former Labour Party official and retired member of Cork City Council, denies the six charges of assaulting the girl between 1996 and 1998.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin sent the jurors home yesterday after they had deliberated for more than two hours and told them return to Cork Circuit Criminal Court to resume deliberations today at 10.30am.

Defence SC Alice Fawsitt said to the jury yesterday: “It is very easy to make an allegation against someone and smear them with a lot of mud. It is very easy to have sympathy with her if it is true, but if it is not true he is being held up to public humiliation and distress, so it is very terrible for him.”

Central to the trial is a disputed admission by Mr Murray when confronted by the complainant two years ago.

The complainant testified in relation to this meeting: “He said: ‘I would have touched your breasts, I would have given you a kiss.’ I [the complainant] said: ‘What else?’ [Mr Murray said:] ‘I would have touched your vagina but I never had sex with you’.”

Murray said in relation to this disputed admission: “At the end of the night, I said: ‘Is this what you want to hear — I touched her breasts, I touched her vagina’,” adding that he then asked somebody to take him home. “I said that out of duress because of the rumpus that was being created in the house. I should never have said it.”

He said he was concerned about the wellbeing of a number of people attending that meeting.

The six allegations made by the complainant were put to Mr Murray during the trial, including that he kissed her, touched her breasts and vagina, digitally penetrated her, and exposed and touched his penis.

Mr Murray denied each allegation individually.

During the one alleged incident, the complainant said Mr Murray whispered into her ear: “I would love to fuck you.”

He said: “I did not, I would never use those words. I think it is disgusting to be quite frank about it. It did not happen.”