Man accuses woman of wrongful identification in rape case

The man accused of raping a woman after she relieved herself in a laneway in a Cork town has denied the charge in evidence to the jury at the Central Criminal Court.

The 35-year-old accused said the woman was wrong in her identification of him and claimed he had a moustache and was unshaven on the night of the alleged rape and not clean-shaven. He said he didn't shave again for about a week afterwards.

He denied, in cross-examination by prosecuting counsel, Mr P J McCarthy SC (with Mr Sean Gillane BL), that he told gardaí he was clean-shaven on that particular Saturday night.

He further denied Mr McCarthy's suggestion that he had not shaven since the night of the alleged rape in an attempt to change his appearance.

He has pleaded not guilty to one charge of rape and one charge of anal rape against the 27-year-old woman in a County Cork town on September 3, 2000.

The accused also denied he was driving a red Mazda car with an English registration that night and claimed he was driving a Nissan Bluebird.

He told Mr McCarthy that a woman was wrong in her claim of him telling her in a pub that night that he had picked up an English-registered Mazda she might like to buy from him.

The accused agreed he had a slash-hook in his hand when gardaí tried to arrest him in a caravan on a side-road in County Cork and said he told gardaí he had it because of trouble he had with a named family whom he told the jury "would take everything you had".

He agreed he ran off from the gardaí and was chased across fields for several hours and said he thought they were "harrassing" him about insurance and road tax. He denied he was told that an allegation of rape had been made against him.

The accused said he was on the side of the road because of a puncture and didn't want to obstruct traffic on the main Dublin-Cork road or be visible to the gardaí due to not having insurance. He claimed he had suffered beatings from gardaí previously.

He said that when garda cars drew up where he was parked, he jumped out of bed and dressed himself quickly. He had the door tied to a fitting in the caravan for security against the family he named and when it was "busted open" by the gardaí he was faced with a gun.

He didn't know it was gardaí who had arrived and denied garda evidence of seeing him looking out at them. He also denied he told gardaí he never wore underpants and said he did sometimes and other times didn't.

It was day-6 of the trial which has reached its concluding stages before Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins.