'I felt so dirty, he took everything from me': Man accuses married farmer of rape

David Raleigh

A man who has accused a married farmer of raping him in his home after a night out, was also allegedly raped by a male relative and another man when he was a child, a court heard.

The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told gardaí he was tied up and injected with animal hormones before being raped by his now deceased relative, heard the Central Criminal Court sitting in Limerick.

A retired garda witness, under cross examination by the accused’s barrister, senior counsel Mark Nicholas, agreed that, as well as making an allegation in respect of the accused, the complainant also claimed he had been raped on numerous occasions between 1974 and 1985, by two men including his deceased relative, which did not involve the accused.

The garda agreed with Mr Nicholas that the alleged victim alleged “they tied him up and injected certain things into him, including cattle hormones”.

The complainant has claimed he was anally raped by the accused in 2011 and in 2019 in Co Limerick.

Senior prosecuting counsel, Fionnuala O’Sullivan, told the court the complainant initially made a disclosure about the alleged rape by the accused during an appointment with his his GP, in April 2019.

Ms O’Sullivan said the complainant claimed that on January 6th, 2011, the accused told him he couldn't have sex with his wife and then raped him.

Ms O’Sullivan said the complainant “told the accused ‘No’, and that he didn't want to do it.”

The prosecuting barrister, along with counsel Lily Buckley BL, instructed by Aoife O’Halloran, Chief State Solicitor’s Office, told the jury they would hear evidence of the complainant’s “intellectual capacity”.

The complainant, represented by barrister Antoinette Simon, has alleged the accused also anally raped him again between April 7th and April 8th, 2019.

Ms O’Sullivan said that, during interviews with investigating gardaí, the accused,“accepted that some sexual activity had occurred” between him and the complainant, but the accused “denied rape and penal penetration of the (complainant’s) anus”.

A DVD recording of an interview between the complainant and gardaí in May 2019 was played in court, in which the complainant said that he and the accused went shopping and had a meal on the evening of April 7th, 2019.

Later that night after the accused dropped the complainant home, he raped him in his bedroom, the complainant alleged.

The complainant told gardaí the accused told him he needed to do exercises in bed and stripped off his own underpants and pants before feeling the complainant’s testicles and pulling him onto the bed.

The complainant told gardaí the accused told him “you're very sexy, you’re turning me on”.

The complainant said he thought the farmer’s alleged behaviour was “strange”.

The complainant said he left and returned to his bedroom and the accused “took my pants off”.

The complainant further alleged that when the farmer was finished raping him, the farmer left €150 cash beside him afterward sand said “Oh, I’ll pay you, here’s your €150”.

The complainant told gardaí: “He (the accused) violated me, he took everything from me when he came into my house and forced himself on me”.

“I felt so dirty, he (the accused) took me when I was at my lowest (ebb), he thought it was funny.”

The man said that after the alleged rape he “scrubbed and scrubbed” himself in water and soap “as he was all over my body”.

The accused, represented by Liam Carroll BL and Mark Nicholas SC, denies two counts of anal rape as well as engaging in a sexual act with a protected person who lacked the capacity to consent to the sexual act.

The trial continues on Wednesday, before a jury and Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring.