‘I did not do anything to that girl,’ claims rape accused

A 45-year-old Cork man who is on trial by judge and jury for rape has accused his niece of telling lies and told investigating gardaí: “I didn’t do anything to that girl.”

Ms Justice Carmel Stewart and a jury of seven men and five women viewed a recorded interview with the accused yesterday at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.

The defendant has pleaded not guilty to one count of raping and two counts of sexually assaulting his niece when she was aged between 7 and 12 years old.

Detective Garda Padraig Reddington asked the accused questions in the videoed interview.

“She described going into the bedroom, she is nine or 10 at this stage, and you asked her to bend over the bed?” he was asked. He replied: “No comment.”

“You took down her pants and underwear,” it was suggested, and he said: “No, I did not, no, I did not, and no comment.”

“You pushed your penis into her vagina,” the detective said.

The defendant replied: “No, I did not. Put what I said there on the form as well [the interview was also being recorded in writing].

“No, I did not. I did not do anything to that girl. That is all lies.”

In relation to the allegation that she woke to find her uncle with his hand inside her underwear, he said: “No, it is not true, no, I did not.”

It was put to the accused: “Could it be that you went for a few pints below in the pub, you were not thinking as straight as you are now, and that you decided it was something you could do?”

He replied: “No, no, no, no.”

Finally, it was put to him that the third complaint she was in the kitchen and “you put your hand down inside her underwear”, and he replied: “No, I did not.”

“Would you agree you would not have had as many sexual encounters as other people?” Det Garda Reddington asked.

The defendant replied: “I don’t care, I didn’t do anything to that girl. No, no, no.”

The 45-year-old denied all counts — one of rape and two of sexual assault — that relate to dates between 2001 and 2006 when the complainant was aged from 7 to 12 years.

The complainant testified earlier in the trial: “He raped me.

“He told me to bend over the bed. That is when he pulled down the back of my pants and put his penis into me.

“I didn’t know what was going on. I knew it was wrong. He told me to shush. That is when I ran out of the room.”

The case continues today.