Alleged rape victim tells trial she did not lie

The woman who claims a sergeant raped her in their local garda station has denied during cross-examination at the Central Criminal Court that she told lies concerning the alleged incident.

She denied a suggestion by defence counsel, Mr Michael O’Higgins SC (with Mr Peter Nolan BL), that she had lied to a doctor when she said she had washed all her clothes some hours later and in her earlier evidence that she had drunk five pints of Guinness in a pub.

"You are getting me risen now. Give me time to cool down," she replied when Mr O’Higgins said that bar staff would give evidence indicating she drank 10 or 11 pints before the alleged rape. A witness would also say that she did not seem to be drunk, counsel told her.

Mr O'Higgins also told the woman there would be evidence from the accused's wife that she heard them engaged in friendly "banter" when they went to his house in the early hours of the morning before he drove her home.

Counsel said that the accused's wife would also tell the jury she would have come down to the kitchen in one second if she had heard anything indicated the complainant was in distress.

Mr O’Higgins added that the post office worker and a barwoman whom the complainant spoke to the next day also told gardaí she was in good form.

The now 25-year-old woman agreed with Mr O’Higgins that according to a statement made to gardai by a girlfriend whom she asked to organise the "morning-after-pill" for her, she hadn’t mentioned the word "rape" but indicated she had a sexual encounter with the accused.

She agreed also with defence counsel she had at first made a decision not to do anything about the alleged rape and had told her girlfriend that was to protect her own family.

Mr O’Higgins noted that the doctor’s notes recorded her as claiming she didn’t want to report the incident because it was a garda who was involved.

Pressed by Mr O’Higgins about the first use of the word "rape" in her statements and asked by counsel if "someone put those words into your mouth", she replied: "Jesus Christ no."

It was day-three of the trial of the 55-year-old accused who denies raping and sexually assaulting her on June 21, 2000.

The complainant told Mr O’Higgins she didn’t bring her laundry home to be done because there were facilities for that where she worked, but she washed her trousers the next morning when she saw semen stains on them and put the rest of her clothes into her work bag.

She denied this was what counsel called "a deliberate act of concealment". She didn’t want anyone at home to know about it and just wanted to "black this out" of her mind. Looking for the morning-after-pill was also to help put it out of her mind.

She denied in further cross-examination that she had been trying to "lay a false trail" by saying to a doctor that she had washed all her clothes. She couldn’t remember all she had said to the doctor. "I didn’t have any purpose in mind," she added to Mr O’Higgins.

Mr O’Higgins asked her to comment on photographs produced by the defence which contradicted her evidence about the accused had dark, hairy legs and she denied she was confusing his legs with those of his son who did have. She said she never saw his son play in a football game.

She said she didn’t recall the accused giving her a purported diet sheet which she had given to gardai investigating her allegation. She told the gardai someone in the pub had taken it from his right jeans pocket and told her she should ‘lay-off’ Guinness if she wanted to lose weight.

Mr O’Higgins told her the accused would tell the jury the diet sheet was in his handwriting and that he had given it to her. She said she couldn’t be sure if the level of alcohol she had consumed that night was the reason she couldn’t be more certain about this, as counsel suggested.

Dr Maureen Howie said that the woman became upset after asking for the morning-after pill in a Derry clinic and said: "I didn’t want it to happen."

Dr Howie told prosecuting counsel, Ms Deirdre Murphy SC (with Mr Sean Guerin BL) she asked the woman "Did someone force you?" and she replied she had been raped. She added she was afraid to report it as it was a friend of the family and a member of An Garda Siochana.

She told the woman that if a crime had been committed she should report it. The woman told her she had washed herself after she arrived home and then went to bed. She had a tenderness on her back consistent with her story of being pushed against a desk.

Dr Howie told Mr O’Higgins, in cross-examination, that she had no memory of making a light-hearted comment about "a night of passion" as claimed by the woman.

She agreed she had asked the woman "Did someone force you?" before she made any rape complaint. She said the woman had told her she washed all her clothes after the incident. She had no other tenderness on her body other than on her back.

Dr Angela Gilligan, Letterkenny, said she carried out a female sexual offence examination on the woman at the request of the gardaí. The complainant was pale, began shaking, cried and was tense and upset during examination of her genital parts.

Dr Gilligan said she noted the hymen wasn’t intact. There was no evidence of pubic hair matting and no other evidence of lacerations or bruising other than some tenderness on her lower back. She was very emotionally traumatised during the examination.

The hearing continues before Mr Justice Henry Abbott and a jury of six men and six women