Man held hands around alleged sexual assault victim's throat during attack, trial told
An alleged sexual assault victim has told a jury at the Central Criminal Court that a man held his hands around her throat throughout a late night attack outside her home.
The 34-year-old Dublin resident denies attempted rape of the woman at a Dublin city centre location on December 18, 2010. The accused and the complainant cannot be identified during the trial.
In her evidence to a jury of three women and nine men, the complainant said that she had arrived at her apartment block after a night out socialising.
She was opening the entrance security gate into the courtyard of the block when she saw a man standing behind her. This man followed her into the courtyard.
The court heard he grabbed her from behind and pushed her to the ground. She tried to scream but he put a hand around her throat and was choking her.
She tried to get away and he punched her repeatedly and shouted at her to “shut up”. She said she still experiences pain on the side of her face from the punches.
The man ripped her tights and pulled her underwear down. She said he was still choking her during this time.
“He punched me and I don't know if I lost consciousness. He was shouting 'shut up' in English,” she said.
She told the jury that she was trying to say “let me go” but she could only whisper it. At one point she began saying it in Polish and she said that “something changed” with the man and “he wasn't as brutal any more”.
She said he had a piercing in his eyebrow and was “super strong”. She said he attempted to rape her but couldn't.
The woman testified that her attacker then ejaculated on her skirt. His hand was still around her neck, preventing her from screaming for help, she said.
She said he got up and picked something up from the ground before leaving. She picked up her bag and keys and went into her apartment and took a shower.
The woman said she felt horrible physically and her face was swollen and she had scratches on her limbs.
“I was completely lost. I didn't know what to do. I felt the whole world ended for me,” she said.
Orla Crowe SC, defending, put it to the witness that her allegations changed between different statements made to gardaí and medical professionals. The woman said she was in shock at the time.
“I didn't want to talk about it. I was completely destroyed,” she said.
The man has pleaded not guilty to attempted rape, sexual assault and assault causing harm at a place in Dublin on December 18, 2010.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Micheal White and the jury.
