Rape trial hears sex worker 'begged' Kerry man to stop

The accused denies rape, sexual assault, organising prostitution and intimidation of a witness. File picture. 

The Kerry man who denies raping the sex worker with whom he was in a relationship agreed with much of her description of the alleged rape but said it was consensual and the same as the type of rough encounters they had with each other before.

The complainant said on this particular occasion there were tears rolling down her face, that she was in "a state", that she begged him to stop and it was not consensual.

Defence senior counsel Colman Cody said that when gardaí questioned the 27-year-old about the disputed incident on September 25, 2017, the young man described it in similar terms to those used by the complainant.

He said that she lit the fire and washed her hands and that they were not talking and that he picked her up, put her over his shoulder, carried her up the stairs, put her down on the bed, took off her pants and his pants and penetrated her vaginally and anally. 

Mr Cody SC suggested: “What was happening was no different to any previous occasion when you (the complainant and the defendant) had rough sex.” The complainant replied: 

It was (different). I asked him to stop. I begged him to stop.

Mr Cody repeated that it was similar to previous consensual, rough encounters that the complainant agreed did happen and he added that at the time of the disputed rape at the centre of the case, “you were letting him do this?” She replied: "No". 

She agreed that prior to the disputed incident on September 25, 2017, there had been consensual acts that included bondage and the complainant having her hands tied behind her back by the accused.

Mr Cody said: “Apart from bondage, were there times you would have pushed him away, were there times you would give the impression to him that you were being raped, that you would push him away and he would continue to have sex?” 

The complainant said that by the end of the relationship she did not want him anymore. She agreed that after passing out for a few seconds one time when he put his two hands around her neck, this was an experience that she wanted to happen again. 

“And did that happen ever again?” Mr Cody asked. She replied: “It did.” 

More details of sexual fetishes in the consensual relationship were explored in cross-examination

but at one of the questions on a particular matter, Mr Justice Michael White said he was not allowing that line of questioning and reminded counsel that he had indicated he would intervene when appropriate.

Snapchat messages

The complainant said that in November 2017 she received a drawing on Snapchat from the defendant’s Snapchat name. Asked to describe the drawing, she said: “A decapitated body hanging. A cannon. A cannon ball… The cannon has smoke coming out saying ‘boom’. There is a fella holding a decapitated head, saying, karma.” 

There was a second Snapchat image with the words, “Being a fantasist shows the world how fake one is. It all comes out in the end.” Asked about her reaction to these Snapchats, she said: “I started shaking. I was imagining what he was capable of… scared of what would happen next… very upset.” 

Then she saw another Snapchat from the same account with the words: “I guess it takes a special kind of rape victim to want to stay close to her rapist.” The 34-year-old complainant will be cross-examined further today before the jury of six men and six women at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.

The accused denies rape, sexual assault, organising prostitution and intimidation of a witness.