Woman denies claiming rape to save dignity

A woman has denied falsely accusing a man of raping her in a Clare hotel to save her pride and dignity after having sexual intercourse with him while under the impression he was someone else.

The 31-year-old woman, who alleges the accused impersonated someone else to have sexual intercourse with her, also denied she realised while she was in bed with him that he was not the man she initially thought he was, but had continued having sex with him regardless.

"You thought, hoped, fantasised that my client was another man, knowing he was not. You had sex with him knowing he was different in size, voice, in physical stature and even in his ability to have sex," counsel for the accused, Mr Padraig Dwyer BL (with Mr Erwen Mill Arden SC) suggested to her in cross-examination.

She denied the suggestions and said she only realised "a 100 and 1000%" who it was after they had sexual intercourse and she saw him outside the room wearing a towel around his waist.

She said she had some suspicions when he left the room after sex without saying anything or without replying or responding to her requests to put lights on in the room.

The jury of seven men and five women had heard earlier in her evidence to prosecuting counsel, Ms Deirdre Murphy SC (with Ms Pauline Walley BL), that she had gone to sleep with another man whom she fancied and had woken up to find the accused kissing her.

She had responded to his kisses and engaged in sexual activity with him, including oral sex. All the while, she said, she had been under the impression that it was the same man she had gone to sleep with.

She said she had slept with the man she fancied the night before as well and had indulged in some sexual activity with him, including oral sex. However, they did not have full sexual intercourse on the first night or the night of the alleged rape because they were both tired.

She denied in cross-examination that the man she fancied had not been as interested in her as she thought. She also denied she had been hoping and expecting she could have a relationship with him when they met at a wedding in Co Clare the day before the alleged rape took place.

She agreed with Mr Dwyer that if, as she alleged in her evidence, the accused had asked her if she knew who was making love to her, then it was a strange question for someone with whom she had slept the night before to ask.

She said he had spoken in a whisper and she had not recognised the difference in their accents or voices. She had laughed and replied, "I know it’s you," and named the man she fancied.

She denied that the accused had never asked the question and that she had never asked him to put lights on in the room or light the candle on the bedside table.

The accused, a 40-year-old Dublin man, has denied raping her in the hotel on March 31, 2003.

The hearing continues before Mr Justice Barry White at the Central Criminal Court.