Sister of alleged rape victim testifies to court
A sister of a woman accusing her boyfriend’s father of rape has revealed she “got a fright” when she saw the complainant in her room after the alleged incident.
The sister said under cross-examination that the complainant had been crying, shaking and standing “hunched over” at the bedroom door with one hand holding her leg and one hand at the light switch.
Mr Colman Cody BL, defending, put it to the witness that a doctor had found no injury on either of the complainant’s legs during a physical exam later that morning.
The witness responded that she had seen her sister holding her leg for a few seconds when she came into the bedroom and before she was put lying on the bed.
The 46-year-old accused has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to one count of rape and one count of sex assault in his car in Wexford on August 13, 2006.
The complainant’s sister agreed she had been angry when told about the alleged incident but denied she had told the complainant: “You better not be messing about this.”
She said she had been angry about the alleged incident and not with the complainant.
The complainant’s mother told Mr Gerry Clarke SC, prosecuting, that her daughter “looked like she had been mauled by a dog” because her hair had been a mess and her arms had been “splotchy” and red.
She said she had been woken by her other daughter and beckoned to where the complainant was lying in another room.
She said the now 23-year-old complainant had been crouched over like she was in pain and was constantly crying.
She agreed with Mr Paddy McCarthy SC, defending, that she told gardaí she had seen the complainant with her hands between her legs when she was crouched over.
Counsel put it to the witness that a doctor had found no injury on the complainant’s body other than two red marks on her arm.
A garda sergeant told Mr Clarke (with Mr Vincent Heneghan BL) that she saw the complainant “hunched over, shaking and shivering uncontrollably” at the family’s kitchen table when she arrived with colleagues soon after they received a call about the alleged incident.
She said from her notes the complainant had alleged that the accused told her: “We’re going for a drink”, as he drove past the house to the first location.
She accepted when Mr McCarthy put it to her that the word “drink” had never appeared in any of the complainant’s subsequent statements and agreed she had noticed no injuries on the woman’s body.
Another garda witness told Mr Clarke that he noticed the complainant walking like she was sore between her legs when she went to get a change of clothes to bring with her to hospital.
He agreed with Mr Cody that he had made this observation at the house and that the complainant had been brought to hospital a short time later.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and a jury of eight men and four women.
