Woman ‘sought advice of garda who raped her’

A woman who claims she was raped by a garda while he was investigating allegations she made against another man said she relied upon the accused for his support and advice.

Mayo woman Joanne Quinn, 41, who was under cross-examination throughout yesterday’s proceedings, has brought a civil claim for damages against retired detective garda sergeant Edward Justin Clarke.

Mr Clarke accepts the pair had sexual intercourse while he was investigating Ms Quinn’s earlier allegations against another man but does not accept he raped or sexually assaulted her.

On the opening day of the trial, the jury was told by counsel for Ms Quinn that one of the central disputes they had to resolve was whether intercourse between them was consensual.

Under cross-examination yesterday by defence counsel Roughan Banim, Ms Quinn was asked if all the phone calls between the pair were one way, to which she replied no.

“When I was having a hard time I would contact Mr Clarke because I thought he was genuinely there to support me,” she said. When asked if she remembered making a statement to the accused in June 2005, she said the series of statements she made to Mr Clarke “seemed to go on and on”.

She was asked if she knew why the State decided not to proceed with its case against her original abuser. Ms Quinn replied that she could not remember.

Mr Banim asked Ms Quinn if she was aware her original abuser had sought her medical records for judicial review proceedings he brought to stop her case against him. She said no.

Mr Banim put it to Ms Quinn that if the State decided not to prosecute her original abuser because she refused to provide her medical records for that case, would not it have been her fault. In response, Ms Quinn said she took Mr Clarke’s advice at all times because she did not understand the law herself.