Dublin man denies raping 'sleeping woman'

A Dublin man 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 26-year-old man said she was awake in the bed, kissed him first and “one thing lead to another”.

The accused has pleaded not guilty to raping the woman in west Dublin on July 23, 2007.

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

He said he tried to find somewhere to sleep and looked in two children’s rooms before going to a third room.

The man told Mr McGuinness he did not see anyone in the bed so he lay down in it and then a woman in the bed started kissing him and “one thing lead to another”.

He said the woman’s eyes were open and she was looking straight at him. He said he was “positive” he had turned on the light.

He said he was “one million percent certain” that he did not have sex with the woman while she was asleep.

He said that afterwards he went downstairs, saw the husband asleep and left the house. He said the next morning he heard from his brothers that the woman had alleged he raped her.

The man told Mr McGuinness he went to a garda station and made a statement that day because he believed if he told them what happened that would be the end of the matter.

He rejected a suggestion during cross examination by prosecuting counsel, Mr Shane Costelloe BL (with Mr John O’Kelly SC) that it was implausible that he would be invited back to his brother’s friend's house and then his brother would take off and leave him there with a person he did not know very well.

The man denied a suggestion that there was “no way” he could have turned on the light and not seen the woman.

He told Mr Costelloe that “it was her problem” that they were having sex while her husband was downstairs and her children in rooms on either side of then.

The man agreed with Mr Costelloe that he had gone upstairs to find a place to fall asleep for the night but that despite having found “the best of all beds”, he then got up after having sex and left the house.

He denied that he left the house because he knew he had just raped the woman.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Carney and a jury of eight men and four women.