Accuser admits sending text threats prior to alleged rape

A woman who alleges her former boyfriend broke into her home and raped her on two occasions last year has agreed that she had earlier sent him a text message saying she could have him charged with rape.

The 19-year-old Dublin man, who can not be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to counts of raping the woman and burglary with a knife on two dates in April and May 2008.

The woman agreed with defence counsel, Mr John Aylmer SC (with Ms Sandra Frayne BL), during cross examination, that she had claimed in a text message she sent to the accused prior to these alleged events that she could have him charged with rape.

She said that claim related to an alleged incident that was "not as violent" as these offences to which the man has pleaded not guilty. She also agreed that she had texted other people claiming she was going to get the accused man "sacked" from his job or beaten up.

She agreed with Mr Aylmer that their relationship terminated after the accused pleaded guilty in court to assaulting her in early 2008.

She agreed that the amount he was drinking and her concern that he was not spending enough time with their child gave rise to "fights and friction" between her and the accused.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of four men and eight women.