Rape accused says alleged victim was 'making eyes' at him

A deaf woman who has accused her friend's partner of sexually assaulting her has denied at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that she was "making eyes" at him before they had a "consensual intimate encounter".

The 43-year-old complainant did not accept that while her friend slept on a couch in the couple's living room, she discussed relationships with the accused, flirted with him and danced "like a belly dancer" while she touched the side of his leg.

She also rejected a further suggestion from defence counsel, Mr Paul Greene BL, that the accused came into his son's bedroom, where she was that night, on the belief that he was welcome there because she had earlier "been signalling to him that this encounter was on the cards".

Earlier, she told Mr Garnet Orange BL, prosecuting, through a sign language interpreter, that the man sexually assaulted her after she had celebrated New Year's Eve with him, his partner and his son in his home.

She said the accused had put his arms around her back and had bitten her left breast after he came into the bedroom she was sleeping in and woke her up by touching her arm. She said he tried to open her legs while she was trying to close them at the same time.

"Then he had sexual and the sperm came out," she said. The interpreter confirmed to the court that the complainant had said "he had 'sexual'".

The 33-year-old man, who is also deaf, has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting her on January 1, 2004.

She rejected a suggestion from Mr Greene that "the truth was that there was consensual intimacy" between her and the accused "which you immediately regretted".

She did not accept that she had complained of the assault to the accused's partner the following morning because she was embarrassed about what had happened under the woman's roof.

She said the accused had been very violent during the attack. "He was like an animal. He was very rough."

She agreed with Mr Greene that she claimed the accused had pushed her legs apart violently and had bitten her left breast forcibly and accepted that when she later made a statement to gardaí, photographs were taken of injuries on her arms but no other alleged injuries were photographed.

The complainant further agreed with Mr Greene that the accused had sex with her for a few seconds before he "ejaculated into her private parts".

The accused's partner at the time said that the complainant told her on New Year's Day that "he did something to her but she didn't spell it out and was not clear about it".

"I was trying to wean the information from her but she would not tell me," witness told the jury.

She agreed with Mr Greene that the alleged victim "seemed to be quite drunk" that night but the accused appeared to be "OK".

The trial continues before Judge Frank O'Donnell with a jury of eight men and four women.