Evidence to end tomorrow in 'Tinder' alleged sexual assault case

The 36-year-old Dublin man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexual assault of the woman, who is a foreign national, at UCD campus, Belfield, south Dublin on July 23, 2014.

On day six of the trial Garda Declan Ryan told the court that he interviewed the complainant on two occasions, on July 25 and July 28.

He said that two days after the alleged attack he travelled to UCD campus with the complainant. He said she identified the Nova running pitch as the location of the alleged assault.

He said he later obtained CCTV footage from UCD showing the blue BMW driven by the accused on the night. The jury have previously watched this footage which shows the car driving into a laneway described as the “observatory”.

The CCTV footage shows the car leaving this area approximately eight minutes later. The car is then filmed by another camera driving up towards the Nova running pitch before driving off from this area about a minute later.

Garda Ryan told Paul Flannery SC, defending, that there was no discussion with the complainant about the eight minutes the car spent down the laneway.

Mr Flannery said that if the complainant “is to be believed” the car went down this laneway and turned around and drove back. He asked the witness how long he thought it would take to do this.

Garda Ryan said he could not say as it would depend on the standard of driving and how far the driver drove down.

The witness told Paul Burns SC, prosecuting, that he never asked the woman about going down the laneway.

“The main location we were interested in was the Nova pitch where she alleged she was sexually assaulted,” he said.

Judge Cormac Quinn told the jury of six men and six women that evidence will end tomorrow and closing speeches will begin.