Garda gives evidence in rape trial

A Lithuanian man charged with raping and falsely imprisoning a Latvian woman at two places in Counties Cavan and Meath told gardai she consented to having sex with him.

A Lithuanian man charged with raping and falsely imprisoning a Latvian woman at two places in Counties Cavan and Meath told gardaí she consented to having sex with him.

The accused, whose trial at the Central Criminal Court continues in his absence, also told gardaí made the woman made her rape allegation after she stole his rent money and jumped out of a window at his residence.

The 38-year-old accused, who has an address in Meath, denies raping the woman during the night of March 11, 2006. He also denies falsely imprisoning her and threatening to kill her on the same date.

Sergeant Brian Morrissey told prosecuting counsel, Mr Gerald Clarke SC (with Ms Anne-Marie Lawlor BL), that the woman lodged her rape complaint at Kells Garda Station.

She said the alleged rapist was the driver of a particular which she said was parked outside a house in another Meath town.

Sgt Morrissey said he met the accused at the house and he agreed that his car be taken for forensic examination. The woman was taken to hospital for a medical examination.

Sgt Morrissey said he took the woman to a Cavan town where she pointed out a house to him. She then directed him on the road route she was taken by the accused when she was with him and she pointed out where she said he had stopped and raped her.

She identified a plastic cup found at the scene as one they both drank from before discarding.

Sgt Morrissey told Mr Clarke that a week later he formally arrested the accused for the alleged rape and during interview he claimed the woman had consented to sex with him. "She wanted to make love the same as I do," the accused said.

Sgt Michael Walsh told Mr Clarke that when he interviewed him, the accused agreed he had telephoned the woman several times because, he said, he had heard "a lot of nice things about her from other men".

The accused told gardaí she liked "a lot of money and alcohol" and he brought her flowers when he collected her to go to a party in a Cavan town on the night of March 11, 2006.

Sgt Walsh said the accused also told gardaí he had heard she made a complaint of rape against him and claimed she had stolen his rent money before jumping out of his residence.

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