The doctor who examined a woman at the centre of a rape allegation has told a Central Criminal Court jury that there was no forensic evidence of a rape having taken place.
The 24-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault of the woman in a Kilkenny car park on April 27, 2008.
The Waterford sexual assault unit doctor told Mr Michael Durack SC, prosecuting, that she examined the complainant in the early hours of that morning.
She told Mr Durack that the complainant was very upset and told her that she had been raped but that no physical abuse had taken place.
The doctor agreed that she could find no evidence of injury or abnormality, that the complainant had no bruises or swelling, and that there was no sign of any internal or external trauma.
However, she told the court: “The absence of this [trauma] does not preclude the possibility of un-consensual sexual intercourse.”
The doctor agreed with Mr Paddy McCarthy SC, defending, that the complainant made no complaint of oral sex having taken place.
The jury was later shown photographic stills and CCTV footage from the nightclub on the night of the alleged assault.
A CCTV camera in the nightclub captured the complainant and the accused walking down stairs together at 02:25am on April 27.
Another camera recorded the complainant and the accused leaving the side entrance of the nightclub at 02:25am, linking arms and walking down toward the car park where the complainant alleges she was raped.
Garda Siobhan Keating told Mr Durack that she was present during the accused man’s first Garda interview.
The accused denied having sex with the complainant and said when she had kissed him inside the night club he pushed her away.
“I was just having a night out and that's it,” he said.
Garda Keating agreed with Mr McCarthy that there had been a Garda appeal for people in the area on the night to come forward but that there had been no response. She agreed the complainant did not mention oral rape when she spoke to her at the scene.
She agreed that the accused man had given gardai his clothes, a sample of his hair, and submitted to swabs being taken. She agreed that “forensically” there was no connection found between the two parties.
Sergeant Paul Coleman told Mr Durack that he had arrested the accused at the scene and was present during subsequent interviews with him.
The accused told gardai he had been attacked at the scene by friends of the girl who hit him with their shoes.
He again denied raping the girl and said he had not had sex in four years.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and a jury of seven women and five men.
