Man stands trial accused of sexually assaulting teenager

A MAN IN his late 50s has gone on trial accused of sexually assaulting a teenager a number of times 21 years ago.

The Circuit Criminal Court heard that the allegations took place on a series of dates during 2004 when the then-15-year-old was involved in a community organisation where the man was employed at a location in the south of the country.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has strongly denied the charges.

He is charged with six incidents of sexual assault in total in the trial, which has been sitting over the past week before a jury of eight men and four women.

Prosecution for the State has argued that the woman – now in her mid 30s – suffered “horrible” assaults at the hands of the man who was 21 years her senior, and that he had originally started “grooming” the girl when she was 14.

It was alleged the man had shown a “brazen” attitude in his treatment of the girl, often “grabbing her in full view” of others “with no consequence” in the months prior to the alleged assaults.

However, counsel for the accused pointed to what they called a “distortion of dates” and “shifting timelines” in the complainant’s evidence.

The defence’s case is that the man did have a relationship with the complainant, but only when she turned 17.

It was heard in court that this was allowed by the community organisation if they deemed the younger partner was “not vulnerable” and was not “receiving favourable treatment”, such as gifts.

Allegations outlined to jury

The jury heard that the first alleged incident was said to have happened during July or August in 2004.

It is alleged that when the man and the teenager were travelling in his car, the accused grabbed the girl’s head and pulled her “towards his groin”.

Two more incidents are alleged to have taken place later, where the man groped her at the community organisation’s premises and later “exposed his penis to her” at a separate location.

In the following weeks – in around September to October 2004 – the man is alleged to have then brought the girl to his home and assaulted her twice.

The jury heard allegations that he removed the girl’s clothes and directed her to touch him, before assaulting her again.

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“It ends with him ejaculating on her body,” the prosecution barrister told the jury.

A further charge against the man is that he allegedly smacked the girl on her bottom as she was getting out of a car.

Defence for the accused

When outlining the defence’s case, a barrister for the accused pointed to what he called inconsistencies in the woman’s recollection of events.

He cited evidence from the woman’s notes of a meeting with a psychiatrist, one year before she made a complaint to gardaí in 2020.

In that session, notes showed that the woman denied having ever suffered child sexual abuse when probed on what was causing her mental health problems.

When explaining this apparent contradiction, the woman and the prosecution barrister put forward that she did not grasp what had happened to her as child sexual abuse due to her being 15 at the time.

Witnesses

Counsel for the accused man added that witnesses the woman had cited when filing a complaint to gardaí had also not supported her account.

This included two women who also worked at the community organisation. One woman who the complainant said witnessed the incident in the shed denied having seen anything suspicious when called to give evidence in the court.

The jury heard that another woman was claimed to have picked up the teenager after she was allegedly sexually assaulted at the man’s home. It was said that she saw the girl “out on the street” and gave her a lift home.

However, this was denied by the older woman in court. She said she had not yet sat a theory test at the time in 2004 and was several months away from having a full license to drive.

The defence barrister argued that this “blows the woman’s claims out of the water” as a result.

Accused’s garda interview

The accused did not take the stand to give evidence, but a transcript of his interview with gardaí was read out to the court instead.

This showed him defend the relationship with the complainant when she was aged 17, admitting that while it “sounds crude”, he viewed them as “friends with benefits”.

He also told gardaí that the complainant must have been mistaken, before urging investigators to speak to others involved at the community organisation at the time.

The jury will return today to be charged with coming to a verdict by the judge.

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