Accused says gardaí 'framed' him

A Corkman accused of raping a 12-year-old girl has said she kissed him when he fell on her bed accidentally and she, her family, and gardaí have framed him with allegations of rape.

The now 39-year-old accused man told the jury on day-4 of his trial that any admissions of sexual contact between him and the girl attributed to him were fabricated by gardaí.

He has pleaded not guilty to raping and sexually assaulting the girl on dates unknown in the summer of 1995 when she was babysitting in a flat directly above his in a Cork suburb.

He said when gardaí arrived at his doorstep in 1998 to inform him of the allegations they told him if he did not come to the garda station voluntarily they would handcuff him and force him to go there.

Once he was at the station, gardai asked him questions but paid no attention to his answers, choosing instead to write their own version of a statement.

The investigating officer Sergeant Ben Flahive had been very angry and agitated, banging on the table and demanding, "Come on! Come on! Let's make it easy for all of us." He felt pressured by all this.

He told the jury that he had indeed signed the statement but he had done so only because he trusted gardaí.

He could not answer the question by prosecuting counsel, Mr John Edward SC, in cross-examination whether he signed the statement because he felt pressurised by gardaí or because he trusted them.

"It could not have been both," Mr Edwards asserted. The accused replied he had been stressed out at the time because his baby and mother were sick and he was also concerned about collecting welfare payments.

He also alleged he had been the victim as the girl's family continued to assault him and when he complained to gardaí, they had done nothing about it.

He denied that after an alleged assault on him by the family he had refused to make a formal complaint.

He told his counsel, Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC, in direct evidence that he had gone to the flat, in which the girl was babysitting for her sister, to use their tumble dryer.

When he went the girl was trying to fix a curtain and asked for his help. He got up on the headboard of the bed in the room and stumbled. She was lying on the bed when he fell face down next to her.

He said she kissed him as soon as he fell and he had withdrawn immediately, saying "What eff?"

He then left the flat and had told his fiancee about the incident immediately afterwards.

On the second occasion, in which he is alleged to have raped her, he said no physical contact took place between them at all.

A statement which he made to gardai saying he "pecked" her on the cheek, but no real sexual intimacy took place between them, was all fabrication, he told the court.

The now-19-year-old girl told the court on day one of the trial that the accused, who lived on the floor directly above her sister's, sexually assaulted and raped her while she was alone with her nephews.

The hearing has been adjourned until Monday due to other commitments at the Central Criminal Court.