Psychiatrist says rape victim unable to give evidence due to Alzheimer's

A consultant psychiatrist who treated an 86-year-old woman that a Monaghan man is accused of raping in her home has told a Central Criminal Court jury that she has Alzheimer's disease and is unable to give evidence.

Prosecuting counsel, Mr Tom O'Connell SC (with Mr Paul Carroll BL), read the jury a deposition given by the complainant at a District Court hearing of the case in October 2008 in which the woman said she "suffered an awful lot" during the alleged rape and did not fight her attacker because "he could have kicked or battered me".

The woman said she would not be able to recognise the man if she saw him again.

The 35-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to raping the woman on June 16, 2008 and to burglary of her home with intent to steal on the same occasion.

The trial continues before Mr Justice George Birmingham and a jury of four women and eight men.