A 34-year-old woman has told a court she was a teenager when she woke up to discover a middle-aged man she viewed as “a father figure” sexually assaulting her after plying her with drink when she called to his business premises to get a lift home after a night out.
“My boots were off, my pants were down, my underwear was down, he was between my legs, he was giving me oral sex,” said the woman. who said how she shouted at the man asking what he was doing, only for him to reply “Ah, we’re just having a bit of fun.”
The woman was giving evidence on the opening day of the trial of the 67-year-old accused, who can’t be named for legal reasons and who has denied a single charge of sexual assault on the woman at a location in Waterford on a date between January 1st 2009 and December 31st 2010.
She said the man, for whom she worked part-time, had often told her to ring him if she ever needed a lift home if she was out socialising. On the night in question, she said she rang him to ask for a lift home and he told her to call over to his premises where he offered her a drink.
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“I did have drink taken but I had my wits about me – he kept insisting I have a drink. I said ‘No, no, I’ve had enough’ but he kept insisting and eventually I gave up and said I would have a vodka. He went into a back room and came out with a drink,” said the woman adding she was 19 at the time.
“I had a couple of sips – I felt a little bit dazy, I was a little bit rocky – I said ‘I’m f--ked after that – I’ve had enough’… I ended up lying on my back and he asked me did I want to have sex… I felt dissociated, it was an out-of-body experience.”
She told prosecution barrister Conor O’Doherty at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court that she woke up looking at the ceiling and then looked down to see the man between her legs performing oral sex on her. When he told her that “it was just a bit of fun” she replied, “This is not fun.”
The accused texted her the following morning, asking, “Do you remember last night?” and she replied “No, can you tell me?” only for the man to text back “Lickout”, and he later sent her a photo, but she wasn’t able to open the image on her phone.
When she met him later that day, he showed her the photo of his phone and it was of her vagina. She said she told him that was disgusting and asked him to delete the image, but he refused and said he was not deleting the image, and it was later found on his phone by his wife and daughter.
He later texted her and asked her if she was going to report the matter to the gardaí because if she was, he would catch a ferry to the UK. She told him she was not going to report it to the gardaí but she changed her mind when he posted on Facebook in 2021 talking about trust and respect
“When I saw that message, it boiled my blood – I felt the need to reply,” said the woman who told how she got no response when she messaged the accused saying, “You raped me, that’s what you did, you sexually assaulted me, and I looked on you as a father figure.”
The case continues.
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