Woman in Kerry rape trial denies having had drink problem

The now 35-year-old woman told Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, defending, during cross examination, that she had a “mental blockage” about her childhood because of what she alleged the accused had done to her.

She denied that her blockage was “strangely selective” and said she was not choosing which parts to remember.

She said she could not remember the exact date or circumstances of her arrival at her uncle’s house in the summer of 1991. She said she also could not remember details of her visit the previous year but claimed her uncle had “groomed” her and given her drink.

She said she had not drunk any alcohol prior to 1990 because her father and mother were very strict.

She disagreed with Mr MacEntee that the accused had never given her alcohol and that if she had a drink it was because she took it. “No,” she said, “He always gave it to me.”

She agreed that on an occasion when she was sick after having alcohol her aunt had said something to her about being sent home if she had any more to drink. She said she could not remember how she reacted to that.

The woman said the accused man gave her more to drink the following day and said it would make her feel better. She said he told her he would not tell his wife.

The complainant said she did not have a problem with drink at that time.

She said it was night time when she and the accused left the house in his car to pick up her cousin.

She said the accused offered her drink in a flask on the journey to the car park where he pulled up.

Mr MacEntee asked her if she was suggesting the drink she was given was “doctored.” She replied: “I am just saying it did not taste like vodka and coke.”

He asked her if she drank the “suspect substance” and she told him she did not drink it all. She said it made her feel “weak.”

Mr MacEntee said it was his instructions that the accused never owned a flask or produced it to her. She told him it was a metal flask.

She said he parked the car in the car park some distance from the nearby buildings. She said there were other cars but they were close to the buildings.

She told Mr MacEntee her uncle told her they were too early and they waited in the car. She said he then raped her.

The woman told Mr MacEntee she did scream out but did not open the door because she was feeling weak.

She agreed that her cousin was liable to arrive at the car at any minute. She said her uncle gave her tissues to clean up her blood afterwards and said he would wash her underwear.

She told Mr MacEntee she did not tell anyone what had happened when she went back to the house because her uncle told her not to. Asked why she did not go to her aunt, she said she was scared of the accused.

Mr MacEntee suggested to her that the first thing a young woman who had just been raped would do was get help or plan how to get away from the accused. She replied: “I could only think about what he had done to me.”

She agreed with Mr MacEntee that she said she had got items of jewellery from the accused and that she had kept them.

She denied a suggestion by Mr MacEntee that the accused had never given her presents.

Mr MacEntee put it to her the accused had never raped her and she replied: “He did, several times.” She also disagreed he had never molested her.

She told Mr MacEntee that she reported the allegations in 2008.

Mr MacEntee asked her if she considered the accused man’s household to be a “normal ordinary Irish household.” She replied: “It seemed normal until he did what he did.”

During re-examination the woman told Ms Marjorie Farrelly SC, prosecuting, that she did not report the allegations until 2008 as she was "not emotionally strong enough to do it."

The trial continues before Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan and a jury of six men and six women.