A Westmeath chef has been convicted of raping a young woman after inviting her back to his apartment.
Samir Mansour (48 ) had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping the woman at his then apartment at Windmill Hill, Prospect, Dublin Road, Mullingar on January 8, 2010.
Mansour, with a current address at The Lock, Market Point, Mullingar, was convicted by a jury after six and a quarter hours’ deliberation and a 10-day trial.
Mr Justice Barry White remanded him in custody and set a date for sentencing next Monday.
He thanked the jurors for their service, saying it was “not easy” to sit in judgement on your fellow man, and discharged them from further jury duty for life.
The Court of Criminal Appeal had last year ordered a re-trial in this case after finding that questions asked by a previous jury had rendered the outcome unsafe.
The woman told Patrick Marrinan SC, prosecuting, that she had been out socialising before going to a nightclub where she met Mansour. She said she told him she was gay and he told he was also gay before inviting her back to his apartment for a party.
Mansour made her an omelette and she said there was a channel showing half-naked women on the TV in the background. She said he made a phone call and when he got no answer he told her that his friends were not coming.
The woman said she was starting to get nervous and made a number of phone calls but got no answer.
She said Mansour began making lewd remarks and told her: “All gay people have sex together.” She said she thought he was pathetic at that stage and did not think anything was going to happen.
She went to leave at about 3.45am but Mansour grabbed her by the arm, swung her around and holding both her arms, forced her into the bedroom. She was resisting and bit him on the chest.
She said Mansour had changed from being a quiet guy to being “terrifying”.
She said afterwards Mansour changed back again to the “sad guy” and apologised, asking her if they could still be friends. She declined a lift home from him and once she was out on the street rang her father who came to collect her. She was crying and told him she had been attacked.
The Gardaí were called and she was taken to a Sexual Assault Treatment Unit where an examination was carried out. She pointed out the house to gardaí on the way to the unit.
During cross examination by Bernard Condon BL, defending, she denied flirting with Mansour and said the accused had held her hand for a few seconds before she pulled away.
He put it to her that all the pointers on the night were towards a desire or interest in sex. She said she had no intention of having sex and if she had known what would happen she would never have gone there.
Mr Condon put it to her that the sex had been consensual and she replied that was completely untrue.
The jury also heard details of the Garda interviews with Mansour during which he denied the allegations. He has no previous convictions.
