Alleged rape victim was 'abused every day in after-school job'

The trial of a Wicklow businessman accused of raping and indecently assaulting a schoolgirl 30 years ago has reached its closing stages at the Central Criminal Court.

The 58-year-old accused has pleaded not guilty to 18 rape charges and 19 indecent assault charges from January 1979 to June 1983 at various Wicklow locations when the girl was aged between 12 and 17 years old.

It was day three of the trial.

The complainant told Mr Tom O’Connell SC, prosecuting (with Ms Monica Lawlor BL), that the man sexually abused her in “some fashion” every day in her after-school job at his business premises.

She said she felt bullied and blackmailed into staying in the situation because the man had informed her she would be known as “spoilt goods” or “second-hand goods” if she had told anyone.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy will direct the six men and six women of the jury to begin deliberations tomorrow.