Rape victim 'not capable of independent living', court hears

A jury in the Central Criminal Court trial of a Louth man accused of orally raping a woman with learning difficulties has heard she has a mental age of between eight and nine years old.

The 61-year-old man, who can not be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the woman by penetrating her mouth with his genitals on December 11, 2008.

A clinical psychiatrist who assessed the woman, now in her twenties, told Ms Caroline Biggs SC (with Mr Stephen McCann BL), prosecuting, that she was in the mid to mild range of learning disability and was not capable of independent living.

He said she had a mental age of between eight and nine years old and required supervision of her social activities.

He told Ms Biggs that in general people with learning difficulties would be considered “affirmers” and when asked to do something would comply rather than lose face. He said that in stressful situations they may also become aggressive or resort to “fight or flight.”

The psychiatrist told Mr Brendan Grehan SC (with Mr Kieran Kelly BL), defending, that a study had shown 28.8% of the prison population would be considered to have learning disabilities.

He agreed that in terms of “IQ” the woman had the capacity of a nine-year-old but the average nine-year-old would not have the life experience of someone in their twenties.

Garda Karen Coughlan told Ms Biggs that having received a complaint about the allegation on January 10, 2009, she arrested and interviewed the accused man on February 10, 2009.

The man told gardaí he had known the woman for about two or three years through his job and was aware she had a learning disability.

He denied he had whispered in the girl’s ear asking for a blow job, took down his trousers and kept asking her to “go on.” He denied that he had said to her “good girl, that’s what you do” when she was performing the act.

The man also denied during interview giving her twenty euro afterwards or waving twenty euro in her face beforehand to “entice her out.”

Gardaí had put to him that the woman was upset afterwards and he told them “It never happened.” He denied he had “taken advantage of a girl with a learning disability.”

Gardaí asked him why she would make the allegation and he said he told her that he had asked her to leave the premises where he worked on four or five occasions as he did not tolerate loitering.

Asked if he was friendly with the girl he replied that he was friendly with everyone.

Gda Coughlan told Ms Biggs that the accused replied “for a start I did not rape anybody” when he was later charged.

Gda Coughlan told Mr Grehan that she received a complaint from the woman’s family in January 2009 and later interviewed the accused based on information she had gathered.

She agreed that as gardaí only became involved in the case in January 2009 all CCTV from the location of the alleged offence had been taped over.

Gda Coughlan agreed with Mr Grehan that the accused had no previous convictions.

Garda Philippa Cantwell told Ms Biggs that she was a trained “specialist victim interviewer” and she was requested to conduct an interview with the woman whom she was aware had intellectual difficulties.

She agreed with Ms Biggs that the interview had taken place pursuant to section 16 (1) (b) of the Criminal Evidence Act 1992 which means that the interview would be recorded on DVD with a view to it being played for the purposes of court proceedings.

Gda Cantwell said the interview took place in late January 2009 and the woman outlined the details of the allegations on the DVD which the jury have already viewed.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of five women and seven men.