I thought I would die, schoolgirl tells trial

An 11-year old schoolgirl today told the Central Criminal Court she thought she was going to die when a man allegedly tied a lace around her neck and twisted it as she lay on the ground in a field.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was giving evidence in the trial of a 19-year-old South Tipperary man who is charged with the attempted murder and attempted sexual assault of the girl in November 2001.

Mr Eric Daniels, Elm Park, Clonmel, denies the charges. He also pleaded not guilty to two further charges of falsely imprisoning the girl and assault causing her harm at Kelly's Field, Gortmalogue, Clonmel, on 10 November 2001.

The girl, who gave her evidence through video-link, told the court she met the accused on the afternoon of the alleged attack when she was playing with some friends. She had known the accused since she was a young child, she told Mr Patrick McCarthy SC prosecuting.

She alleged the accused asked her to follow him to a field where she could see some puppies. While standing behind her the accused told her to look closer.

"He came up behind me and put something around my neck. I thought I was going to die", she said.

In court she identified a black lace which, she claimed was tied around her neck. It was "really really tight" she said. "He was choking me."

The girl said the accused had kicked her to the ground and she was lying on her back. "First he was twisting it, twisting it" but when she "played dead" the accused released the lace from around her neck", the girl alleged.

She asked him to let her go but he pulled down the zip on her jumper and began rubbing the red mark around her neck.

The girl alleged that the accused then tried to put his hand down her trousers but she managed to prevent him.

"He was asking me to do him a favour. He was asking me to give him a blow job."

"Do you know what that means?" Mr McCarthy asked.

"No" she replied before breaking down in tears.

Asked what the accused said when he allegedly placed the lace around her neck, she replied: "He was saying 'shush'".

She said he left the field when a man and woman came on the scene saying "I'll see you around".

She went home and told her older sister what had happened.

Defence counsel Mr John O'Kelly SC put it to the witness that the accused had not asked her to perform a sexual act on him. He suggested that the first time this arose was after the alleged attack when the matter was being discussed in her home.

She agreed with the defence that she was not examined by a doctor immediately after the alleged attack. "When the guards came I was," she said.

The trial continues tomorrow.