Former professional football player denies raping mother of four

A former professional football player has denied in evidence at the Central Criminal Court that he raped a woman as she lay in her bed while her husband slept downstairs.

Former professional football player denies raping mother of four

A former professional football player has denied in evidence at the Central Criminal Court that he raped a woman as she lay in her bed while her husband slept downstairs.

The 25-year-old accused said she initiated sex by starting to kiss him and removed his clothes as he removed hers.

He told defence counsel, Mr Diarmaid McGuinness SC (with Ms Anne Rowland BL), that her husband invited him back to their home after a night out and that he went upstairs to use the toilet.

He said he then tried to find somewhere to sleep and walked into their daughter's room but when he saw the daughter reading on her bed, he went into the front bedroom and turned on the light.

He told Mr McGuinness he looked at the bed and didn't think there was anyone in it so lay down in it and the he first realised there was a woman there when she turned around and started kissing him.

"One thing led to another," he told Mr McGuinness. "She was helping me take off my jeans and I was helping her take off her top."

He said they "were saying things you'd usually say during sex" and it lasted about ten minutes after which he put on his clothes and left the house. He said the next morning, his brothers called to the house and told him the woman had alleged he raped her.

"I couldn't believe she was saying that," the accused said. "I, one million percent, did not rape her. She knows it and I know it."

He told Mr McGuinness he had played professional soccer in England for three years with a club now in the Championship before coming home and playing with various domestic teams.

He rejected an suggestion by prosecuting counsel, Mr John O'Kelly SC (with Mr Shane Costelloe BL), that "you would want to be blind not to have seen the woman in that bed."

Mr O'Kelly continued that there was "no way" he could have missed the woman when he entered the room and turned on the light.

The woman had earlier claimded in evidence that she had been at her sister's house for a few drinks and had returned home and gone to bed. She claimed she awoke to find the accused having sex with her.

She said, when he finished he turned on the light, put his clothes on and left. She said she did not think the light was on the whole time.

She told Mr O'Kelly that she was very confused but knew it wasn't her husband "because he wouldn't do something like that." She said she called her husband's phone but heard it ringing downstairs where he was asleep on the kitchen table.

The accused has pleaded not guilty to raping and sexually assaulting the married mother of four in her west Dublin home on July 23, 2007. It was day-three of the hearing.

The hearing continues before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of seven men and five women.

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