Alcohol, cholesterol medicine and cough syrup blamed in sex assault case
The trial of Dublin man accused of sexual assault has heard he admits attacking the woman but claims he was overcome by an “uncontrollable urge” due to a cocktail of alcohol and medication.
The accused man, with an address in Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to the sexual assault of a 27-year-old woman on October 3, 2010.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the woman was attacked by the accused during the early hours of the morning while walking home on a north Dublin road.
The jury were told it is the defence case that the accused drank four or five pints of Guinness and was overcome by an irresistible impulse due a concoction of alcohol, cholesterol medicine and cough syrup.
In an opening speech, the prosecution said that the accused admitted to the physical act of sexual assault but claims he lacked the mental element of the crime because he was overcome with an uncontrollable urge.
The woman told Kerida Naidoo BL, prosecuting, that she was walking home in the early hours of the morning when she heard twigs snap behind her.
She said the accused put his arm around her and asked if she would be OK getting home.
He then gripped her around the waist “like a rugby tackle stance” and tried to force her to the ground.
“As he was trying to push me into dark area where the wooded area is, I hit him over the head with my phone as hard as I could,” she said. “I was screaming ‘No, No, No’ and ‘Help’ and everything I could think of.”
The woman said she was face down on the ground while the accused was groping and fondling her from behind. She said his full weight was on her and she couldn't move.
“I said at one point I was pregnant and asked him to stop,” she said.
The woman said that while the accused was struggling to remove her underwear, she phoned gardaí and told them she was being raped.
A man who saw what was happening ran to help and shouted at the accused, who got up and ran away. A passing taxi also stopped to help.
The woman was covered in mud and in a distressed state.
Gardaí drove the woman around the area and within minutes she was able to identify the accused, who was walking nearby and bleeding from a small wound on his head.
“He looked straight at me. I knew it was him,” she said.
The woman told Patrick Gageby SC, defending, that the accused did not try and conceal his face during the attack.
The trial continues in front of Judge Desmond Hogan and a jury of 11 men and one woman.
