Accused denies raping cousin after going trick-or-treating on Halloween

It is expected the case will last for most of the week. File Picture: The courthouse at Anglesea Street in Cork city. 

A 12-year-old girl was raped after going Halloween trick-or-treating with her slightly older cousin, it was alleged at the outset of a trial by judge and jury.

All charges are denied by the accused.

Prosecution senior counsel Tom Creed said at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork that it would be alleged the complainant was 12 when she went trick-or-treating with her 13-year-old cousin at Halloween 2011 and went back to his house and stayed the night afterwards.

Mr Creed said it was alleged that, “Upstairs, in the bathroom, there was penetration of her anus by his penis.” 

The prosecution senior counsel said the second count on the four-count indictment allegedly occurred the following October 2012, again on Halloween night and that a similar alleged offence occurred.

Mr Creed said that on later occasions before June 2014, it is alleged that there was rape by penetration of the complainant’s vagina with the defendant’s penis and, finally, an act of oral rape at a time when the complainant was 15 years old.

“That is basically what this case is all about. You will hear from a number of witnesses. When the evidence is over you will hear speeches from counsel and the judge’s charge where she will tell you what the law is,” Mr Creed said.

The prosecution senior counsel emphasised that what he said in his outline was not itself evidence and consisted of what he anticipated the evidence would be.

The defendant, who is now 22, pleaded not guilty to all four charges against him. He denied having sexual intercourse with the complainant at a time when she did not consent or when he was reckless as to whether she consented or not. 

He also denied two charges of sexual assault by penetration of her anus with his penis and one count of sexual assault by penetration of her mouth with his penis. The charges relate to a period between October 2011 and June 2014.

Ms Justice Eileen Creedon told the four women and eight men of the jury at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork that the case would take most of the week.