Cork man found guilty of rape

A Cork man has been convicted by a jury at the Central Criminal Court of raping a then 16-year-old girl in a countryside area outside the city.

Keith Walsh, a 27-year-old plasterer of Ardcullen, Hollyhill, was found guilty on day five of his trial and has been remanded in custody for sentence later by Ms Justice Maureen Clark .

He had denied raping the teenager on October 23, 2005. He at first denied to gardaí that he met the complainant but later admitted having sex with her and claimed in evidence also that it was consensual.

Gardaí objected to bail for Walsh who has 33 previous convictions, including one for failing to appear in court. Ms Justice Clark declared he should be registered as a sex offender under the legislation.

The victim described in evidence how she was raped by Walsh who was on "a buzz" from taking cocaine. She had been kissing him in the back seat of a car but refused sex before he held her down and pulled off her underwear.

The victim said she took a lift from Walsh and his brother and although she was happy to kiss him she told him, when he was driving into a country side area outside Cork city, that there was no need because she was "not going to do anything for him".