Woman said rape accused 'didn't know how to face family'

A Lithuanian woman has told the Central Criminal Court that a fellow-national threatened to kill her before he raped her in his car on a Longford roadside after a vodka drinking session.

The 21-year-old woman told prosecuting counsel, Mr Patrick McCarthy SC, that the man then said he was sorry and he didn't know how he was going to face his wife and child.

She told Mr McCarthy that when he asked her what she was going to do she replied that he was lucky she wasn't going to report him to the gardaí.

A 27-year-old Lithuanian man denies raping her on July 31st, 2005 near the house where she was living in Co Longford.

The woman, with the help of an interpreter, told Mr McCarthy she had travelled from Lithuania to Ireland with the accused and had lived with him and his family for her first few weeks here.

She said she had been introduced to him by her brother who had already moved to Ireland. The accused promised to get her a job where he worked but after a few weeks there was no job and he would not tell her the names of other people she could contact for work.

After about five weeks, she said managed to get a job and then a few weeks later moved into a better job found for her through another of her brother's friends who also found her somewhere to live that was closer to her work.

She told Mr McCarthy she stayed in contact with the accused and was not surprised to receive a text from him on the afternoon of July 3, 2005. He asked her if she had any Lithuanian cigarettes. She replied that she did not and suggested he try another friend.

The accused texted her again and suggested they meet to go drinking. He told her they could drink vodka because he had already bought some. He picked her up and they drove about five minutes before stopping at the side of the road where they stayed drinking for between 30-60 minutes.

She told Mr McCarthy that during this time she texted her boyfriend and arranged to meet him later in a Longford town. The accused gave her a lift to her boyfriend's house but when she knocked on the door he did not answer and nobody answered her calls.

She went looking for a taxi and rang the accused to ask him the number for a taxi company but he offered to drop her home if she came round to his house where she found him drinking vodka with his father- in-law.

The accused gave her a drink and told he would drop her home after he had finished. He also offered to loan her a television set until she could afford to buy one for herself.

She told Mr McCarthy they were drinking vodka and juice, not mixed but in separate glasses. "You drink the vodka first, then the juice after."

She said they had several drinks and then the accused said he would bring her home at around 11pm. He was so drunk he had difficulty seeing the road and when they got near her house he started trying to kiss her but she pushed him away.

She told Mr McCarthy the accused stopped the car and held her hands so she could not open the car door and get out. She got frightened and told him he could kiss her but he told her he didn't want a kiss but wanted "to make love".

She said he lowered the car seats and came over to her side of the car and then "destroyed" her trousers by ripping them down the front.

She told Mr McCarthy she was very frightened and started crying. "I started to cry and push him and he said to stop doing this and said to me: 'I will kill you and nobody can find you'."

The complainant said the accused then took off his clothes and raped her for about five minutes. Afterwards he started crying and apologised, saying he didn't know how he could face his family. She said after he had raped her she did not want the television any more and would not take it.

He dropped her home and she went in and had a shower. Then she rang her mother in Lithuania to ask what she should do. She also rang her boyfriend and an Irish friend of his. This friend came round to her house and when she told him what had happened he brought her to the gardaí.

She agreed with defence counsel, Mr Hugo Hynes SC, that she and the other people she was living with had a small party the night before. She said she was drinking "alcohol cocktails", like 'Smirnoff Ice' and thought she had drunk about four of these drinks.

She told Mr Hynes she was not angry at her boyfriend for being out. "It was a little bit strange" but, she said: "If he didn't want me, that's ok."

The trial continues before Mr Justice Peter Charleton and the jury of nine men and three women.