'It didn’t happen': Man denies sexually assaulting woman while she and friend slept next to him

David Raleigh

A man accused of sexually assaulting a woman as she slept in a bed with him and another woman told gardaí he was “shocked” when told of the allegation, his trial heard on Wednesday.

The man is alleged to have used one of the alleged victim’s hands to masturbate himself while she was asleep. The man and the two women were studying in college in Limerick at the time.

The accused, the alleged victim and one of her female friends went back to the alleged victim’s apartment after socialising at a pub into the early hours of February 15th, 2020.

The alleged victim cooked the trio a meal, and the three of them went to sleep in her bed.

On Tuesday, the alleged victim told the court she warned the accused that she would “hit” him “in the balls” if he tried anything of a sexual nature with her, after he had sought a kiss from her in bed.

On Wednesday, the court heard that the accused told investigating gardaí that he had asked the alleged victim for a kiss “in a jovial way,” but that she had declined and he did not pursue it further.

The accused refuted the woman’s claims that he became “touchy-feely” and that she had told him she would hit him in his testicles if he tried anything else.

“This didn’t happen. Not once do I remember her threatening this or saying this to me,” the accused told gardaí.

The accused told gardaí that he and the two women were “cuddling” in the bed, and singing and chatting.

He said he was lying between the two women with his arms around them, and they were turned into him before they all fell asleep.

The accused denied having any sexual contact with the alleged victim.

The man told gardaí “absolutely not” when asked if he had removed his underwear while he was in the bed with both women.

When gardaí put it to the accused — the woman’s claims that he used one of her hands to masturbate him in the bed — he replied: “I totally deny it, it didn’t happen at all.”

“I feel horrendous that she feels that, but I absolutely deny that. I’m shocked to hear that,” he added.

The accused said he may have told the other woman that he fancied the alleged victim, but he denied behaving in any inappropriate way.

The accused told gardaí he consensually kissed the alleged victim’s friend in the bed after the alleged victim left the room briefly during the night in question.

The alleged victim’s friend gave evidence on Tuesday that she and the accused shared a consensual kiss in the bed after the alleged victim had left the bedroom and that it was “100 per cent mutual”.

The investigating garda, Ryan Hill, agreed with the accused’s barrister, Amy Nix BL, that the accused was from “a decent, upstanding, hard-working family,” that he was supported in court by his family and that he has been in employment since leaving college.

Garda Hill agreed with Ms Nix that despite having the right to remain silent during Garda interviews after his arrest, “the accused cooperated at all times with the Garda investigation and he answered all your questions.”

On the opening day of the trial on Tuesday, the alleged victim gave evidence that she and her friend invited the accused back to her apartment, where she cooked a meal and they all went to sleep in her double bed.

The alleged victim said three in a bed was not unusual in a college environment, where students were “going in and out of apartments all the time, and it was normal for people to crash and sleep wherever they could get a bed.”

The alleged victim told prosecuting barrister John O’Sullivan that she did not invite sexual contact nor give the man the impression she was interested in any type of sexual contact on the night. In fact, she said, she warned him against it.

She agreed that she and her friend were positioned on either side of the accused in the bed, and that they sang songs and chatted.

She reiterated that she had warned the accused she would defend herself physically if he tried anything of a sexual nature, claiming he had asked her for a kiss.

“That was me setting the boundary and the tone that I was only there to sleep,” she told the court.

She agreed that she left the room at one stage during the night before she returned and eventually fell asleep next to the accused.

She alleged she woke up later to find the man “moving my right hand up and down on his penis” with his left hand.

She said she “froze” and went into another bedroom in the shared student apartment.

Two weeks afterwards, the alleged victim made a statement of criminal complaint of alleged sexual assault against the accused, who was later arrested for questioning.

Another friend of the alleged victim gave evidence Tuesday that she told her the accused “put his hands in her trousers and was touching himself and giving himself a hand-job.”

The prosecution's case concluded this afternoon ahead of closing speeches in the case.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help.