Alleged rape victim 'too sick to resist', court hears

A Donegal man has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court accused of raping a woman who was too sick to resist after a party in the county.

The man pleaded not guilty to raping and sexually assaulting the 30-year-old woman in a house in Donegal on May 20, 2007.

The woman gave evidence that she woke up to the accused having sex with her after she and a friend had been at a party with him earlier. She said she was ill and could not move or speak as he raped her.

She told prosecuting counsel, Mr Alexander Owens SC, that she and a friend had gone out that night to a nightclub and met several people. She said she had around seven vodkas and they left at 2.30am.

She said everything was “a bit of a blur” and her friend insisted they go to a nearby party. When she arrived she felt ill and vomited in the kitchen while a man in a navy shirt was watching her.

She said she started to pass in and out of consciousness and the next thing she remembers is waking up in a bed with the accused on top of her.

She said he was raping her but she was “totally powerless” and could not speak. She said she could not move her mouth, legs or arms but saw that it was the man who was earlier wearing the navy shirt.

She said he was really rough and kept grabbing her but he finished and put on boxer shorts. She said she thought at the time that she must try to remember the colour of the boxer shirts before she passed out again.

She said she awoke in the morning to her friend asking who was in the bed with her.

She replied that she did not know and went to the bathroom where she said she remembered what had happened to her. Her friend threw the man out of the house.

That day she got the “morning after pill” before making a complaint to gardaí.

The trial continues before Mr Justice John Edwards and a jury of nine men and three women.