Rape accused claims he only hugged and kissed schoolgirl
A Donegal man who told gardaí that he had "touched and rubbed" his wife's niece has claimed at his rape trial at the Central Criminal Court that he had "only kissed, hugged and cuddled" the then schoolgirl.
The 50-year-old man agreed with Mr Richard Lyons SC (with Mr Sean Gillane BL), that he told gardaí he had cuddled and kissed the complainant but he said this would only happen when they would meet.
"She would always give you a hug and a kiss when you met her."
When Mr Lyons asked him what had he meant when he told gardaí that the "sex" he had with her involved "just rubbing and touching", he replied: "Maybe I would have rubbed her shoulder or something like that."
Mr Lyons asked him why he replied "I could make a statement and tell the truth but we never went as far as sexual intercourse" when requested by the gardaí to make a statement outlining his relationship with her.
He said his wife "would always be there" when the complainant would give him a hug and a kiss and "that was as far as it went".
He accepted he told the gardaí that the complainant was not telling lies and that he would not say anything that would get her into trouble.
When asked by Mr Lyons what he had meant by this, and how the complainant "could have got into trouble", the accused replied: "I don't know."
He agreed with Mr Lyons that although the complainant had "accused you of raping her as a child" he did not now hold anything against her.
When asked by Mr Lyons if he had any explanation as to why the complainant would make up these "serious allegations" against him, the accused replied: "I don't know."
"You can't think of anything?" asked Mr Lyons. "No," replied the accused.
He accepted counsel's suggestion that it was possible that the complainant made up the allegations because, as defence counsel Mr John O'Kelly SC had suggested to her, she saw it as "an opportunity to get some attention for herself."
The accused has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges of rape and 22 charges of sexual assault on dates between April 1, 1993 and June 15, 1996 when she was aged between 11 and 15 years old.
Earlier, he told Mr O'Kelly (with Mr Kerida Naidoo BL), in direct evidence, that the complainant's allegations that he had touched her sexually when she was staying over in his house were not true.
He also denied he had raped the then 12-year-old complainant or asked her to perform oral sex on him.
"I never had sex with her, I never had oral sex with her," he said and he was "totally shocked" when he was confronted by the gardaí with the allegations.
He told Mr O'Kelly that the then 16-year-old had never before accused him of this.
He said that he and his family did not stay the weekend in his own home, where the complainant alleged the incidences of both rape and sexual assault occurred.
He said that instead he, his wife and his children would always go to his mother-in-law's home on a Saturday evening and they would not return to his house until the Sunday after dinner. The only weekend they would not do this was in the case of a special occasion.
Earlier, the complainant claimed he regularly raped and sexually assaulted her on a Sunday morning in his own home, when his children were at mass and his wife was in work.
The trial continues before Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne and a jury of seven women and five men.
