Donegal man convicted of raping teen

A Donegal man has been convicted of anally raping a 15-year-old girl and having sex with the same teenager two years ago.

The 23-year-old accused, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to rape, anal rape and defilement of the girl on a date in February 2008.

A jury of seven men and five women returned a verdict of guilty on the charge of defilement following six hours of deliberation today..

The panel was sent home for the evening after considering the remaining charges for a further 90 minutes and returned the guilty verdict today after an another hour and a half of deliberations.

The members failed to reach a verdict on the rape charge. It was day eight of the trial.

The now 17-year-old complainant told Mr Conor Devally SC, prosecuting, that she and two friends went to a school grounds where they drank vodka which had earlier been bought for them by an older person.

She said she drank two cupfuls of vodka and coke. She said later that night a male arrived at the school to meet one of her friends in a car driven by the accused. She said they chatted and then the three girls got into the back seat of the car.

She said when the male passenger who had come to meet her friend got out of the car to chat the accused asked her to get into the front seat and when the other male returned he got into the back seat with her two friends

She said she shared a kiss with the accused in the front seat at one point during the evening.

She said one of her friends was dropped off because she was called home by her mother. She said she saw the accused type a text message and then pass the phone to his friend in the back seat.

The complainant said the male in the back then asked her remaining friend to get out of the car with him and she was left alone with the accused. She said the accused drove on down the road for a time before stopping.

She said the accused jumped over to her side of the car and reclined the seat. She said he was rubbing her body and she called him a "weirdo" and told him to get off her.

She said he started to bite her neck and tried to kiss her but she put her head back. She said he then pulled down her tracksuit bottoms and she continued to try and push him away, and that she was crying while he had sex with her.

She said afterwards he went back to his side of the car and she pulled up her trousers and "it was as if nothing had happened."

She said they then drove back to where her friend and the other male were waiting. She estimated they had been away for about 15 or 20 minutes. She said the accused drove them back into the town where she and her friend got out.

Gardaí were alerted the following day after she spoke to members of her family.

The accused man told Mr David Goldberg SC, defending, that he had gone to the school grounds because he heard the complainant wished to meet up with him.

He said at one point the alleged victim, who was in the front seat, started "French kissing" him and then said: "I did not think you going to make the first move so I did."

He told Mr Goldberg that his impression was that the complainant wanted to be alone with him and to have sex "because she said it to me once or twice". He said they dropped one of the girls home and both he and the complainant asked his friend to get out of the car for a few minutes with the other girl.

He said he drove up the road a distance and then he and the complainant started kissing and rubbing each other intimately. He said the girl did not protest or try to push him away while they had sex. He said they then drove back to pick up the other two.’

He told Mr Goldberg he thought the girl was 17 years old because of the way she looked and because of the contraceptive device she used.

He said they dropped the two girls off at a local hotel and that the complainant was not crying.

He said he was "surprised" to be arrested a few days later and denied that he had unlawful sex with the girl or that he tried to conceal it.

Mr Justice George Birmingham thanked the jury for their care and attention during the trial and excused them from service for 12 years.

He remanded the accused in custody until a sentence date next March after he ordered a probation report and registered him as a sex offender..