Man convicted of sex attack on deaf woman

A deaf man has been convicted by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury of sexually assaulting his partner's friend after she had been celebrating New Year's Eve in the couple's home.

The 33-year-old Dublin man had pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the 43-year-old woman, who is also deaf, in his young son's bedroom, on January 01, 2004.

The jury returned its guilty verdict on day-five of the trial following less than one hour of deliberation.

Judge Frank O'Donnell thanked the eight men and four women for "doing your civic duty" and listening carefully to the evidence in the trial.

He remanded the man in continuing custody for sentence later. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest last July after he failed to appear for this trial and he has been in prison since his apprehension some days later.

Judge O'Donnell ordered the preparation of a victim impact report and allowed for the accused to be psychiatrically assessed upon request from defence counsel, Mr Paul Greene BL. He directed that the man's name should not be published to protect the victim's identity.

The victim told Mr Garnet Orange BL, prosecuting, through a sign language interpreter, that the man had woken her up that night by reaching under her duvet cover and touching her arm. She said the room was very dark but she reached out and felt the man's chest and noticed that he was naked.

She said that the accused banged her head off the corner of the wall, before squeezing both her arms. "He held me very tight. I was not able to move and I felt I had no control," she told the jury.

"I felt very weak and I was screaming and crying. I tried to kick him but he was very controlling. He took my top, shorts and knickers off."

She said the accused had put his arms around her back and had bitten her left breast. 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 victim had said "he had 'sexual' ".

The woman said she had tried to stop him but it was very difficult and she was very weak. "He was very strong. He did not care himself. I was trying to push him away. I was in shock and pain," she told Mr Orange.

When asked by Mr Orange how she had known it was the accused who had attacked her, she replied: "I touched him. I knew he was there."

She said after the assault she took a dressing gown from the back of the door and got into bed but she found it very difficult to sleep because she was in shock.

Her friend came into the room the next morning and she told her what had happened.

"I told her that her partner had raped me. She was shocked and I was very angry. I had a shower in their room after that and he was still asleep in bed. I asked her to stand by the door of the bathroom until I was finished."

She said after getting dressed she went downstairs and had a cup of tea with her friend who then drove her to work. She reported the assault to the gardaí two days later. Photographs were taken of her arms and she later had a medical examination.