Alleged rape victim denies setting man alight

The alleged victim of an attempted rape has denied she doused a hitchhiker with petrol and tried to set him alight because he failed to live up to the image of "the amorous, randy Irishman".

The woman dismissed as "extraordinarily bizarre" the suggestion by defense counsel Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC, in cross-examination, that she had tried to set the man alight because he was "sexually inadequate".

She told the Central Criminal Court jury on day-4 of the trial that she might have been naive but she was "most certainly not a pyromaniac with a voracious sexual appetite."

She also told the jury that she "would not, at any stage, consent to the act of sex with that gentleman".

She said she could not agree with Mr O'Carroll's suggestion that she had been a "more than willing participant" until she became annoyed when he "could not get an erection and could not give her the pleasure she wanted."

The 40-year-old County Monaghan defendant has pleaded not guilty to the attempted rape of the woman in Longford on August 13, 1999.

He also pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm, robbery of a sum of money and the attempted hijacking of the woman's car on the same date.

The woman earlier told the court the accused was a "respectable looking hitchhiker" to whom she had given a lift in her car at a roundabout Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim enroute from the West of Ireland to Dublin.

She agreed with Mr O'Carroll that it did not make much sense that instead of escaping as fast as she could when she found the chance, she had remained on the scene to recover her purse, which she alleges the accused had stolen.

But, she said, her mind was not functioning rationally and after the failed rape attempt she had got to the stage where she was extremely angry with her attacker.

She told the jury that it was just as she was about to turn the ignition in her car and drive off that she noticed her purse was missing and her thoughts had been along the lines of: "The bastard! He's taken my money as well and he is not going to get away with it."

She said she had been absolutely determined that she would not let the man, who had just attempted to rape her, leave her stranded in the middle of nowhere with no money as well.

She said she had then got out of the car and tackled him. She could not remember whether she had taken the time to put her clothes in order or not.

She said, in further reply to Mr O'Carroll, that in the ensuing scuffle, he pushed her to the ground and got in the car and tried to drive off, but he could not start the car. She then went around to the back of the car and attempted to get in when she noticed the can of petrol.

He was still in the driving seat of her car when she splashed him with the petrol, lit up a business card and threatened to set him alight. That was when he left her and ran away, she told the jury.