Cork man denies raping teenager

A Cork man accused of rape has claimed in evidence that he had consensual sex with the teenage complainant and agreed he at first told a lie to gardaí about where he was on the night of the alleged crime.

The 27-year-old man has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping a then 16-year-old on October 23, 2005 in a rural area of Co Cork. It was day-three of the trial.

He told his counsel, Mr Conor Devally SC (with Mr Ronan Munro BL), that there were no objections from the complainant when they had sex in his car and that she told him she "had done it loads of times".

He said that after they had been engaged in sex for about five or six minutes, on the rear seat of the car, he asked her if she wanted to change, meaning if she wanted to get on top of him. He told Mr Devally that when he asked if she wanted to change he was not referring to anal sex.

They continued having "normal sex" until he ejaculated inside her vagina. He said he then rearranged his clothes and jumped back into the driving seat. She returned fully reclothed to the passenger seat and he drove back to where he had left his brother and a second girl.

The accused told Mr Devally that the complainant didn't shout at him at any time to stop and didn't call him any "bad names". He drove her to where she designated and returned home with his brother.

He recalled the gardaí calling to his home the next day and asking him to account for his movements in the hours after midnight and agreed he told them a lie by claiming he had been at home.

He said he actually had gone home initially at midnight but had gone out again with his brother and they had pickup the complainant and another girl but he said he "co-operated fully" afterwards with the gardaí "by answering all their questions truthfully".

Earlier, the garda in charge of the investigation told Mr Diarmaid McGuinness SC (with Ms Roisin Lacey BL), prosecuting, that when he called to the accused's house to question him about the alleged rape the man told him he had been at home all night with his mother and girlfriend.

He admitted that he had gone out in his car shortly after midnight to go to the shop but said he was back in bed by 1 a.m. The accused later said in an interview with gardaí that he had sex with the complainant in the back of his car and that she hadn't objected to after she had taken off her own trousers and underwear.

He said she never shouted at him to stop and if she had his brother, who was standing a short distance away, would have heard.

He also told gardaí that she first told him she was a virgin but claimed she later said she was only messing and had "done it loads of times".

The trial continues before Ms Justice Maureen Clark and a jury of five women and seven men.