A man has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court accused of the oral rape of a woman as she was on her way home from a night out with friends in Kilkenny.
Yesterday the trial continued in legal argument in the absence of the jury.
The 28-year-old accused has pleaded not guilty to charges of oral rape and aggravated sexual assault of the woman on April 1, 2005.
Mr Justice George Birmingham informed the jury of five women and seven men that they were not required for the day yesterday and asked them to return today (Friday ) when the trial is expected to resume in their presence.
On Wednesday, Mr Michael Durack SC, prosecuting, said it was the State’s case that in the early hours of that morning the complainant was attacked in a laneway as she walked home.
She had previously been drinking with her boyfriend’s sister and a number of other women at a well-known pub in the county, before deciding to leave and return home to her flat just prior to 2am.
Mr Durack said that the jury will hear that the accused, who had also been drinking at the same venue, had been ejected from the premises by bouncers for an incident shortly before the complainant left.
On leaving the pub the complainant walked down an access laneway and got as far as her flat before she was attacked by a man.
In the course of the attack her tights and underwear were torn and she was forced down by the hair and made perform oral sex on her assailant.
When the attack was over, the woman went into her flat and awoke her boyfriend. The gardaí were called and arrived on the scene within minutes.
Mr Durack said the jury will hear how gardaí took several samples from the laneway, including a number of broken false, or glued-on, nails which the complainant had been wearing prior to the attack.
Counsel said that the court will hear how the tapes used to record a Garda interview with the accused malfunctioned and failed to record any data.
Mr Durack said however, that the jury will see handwritten notes that were taken during the course of the interview.
The trial continues before Mr Justice George Birmingham and a jury of five women and seven men.
