A MAN who admits sexually assaulting a woman due to what he termed an irresistible impulse said he only snapped out of it when he heard her shout that she was being raped, a court has heard.
Anthony Lyons (51), Griffith Avenue, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to the sexual assault of the 27-year-old woman at about 2.30am on October 3rd, 2010.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard Mr Lyons was the head of an aviation company which leases out aircraft at Dublin airport. It is the defence case that he was overcome with an irresistible urge due to a combination of alcohol, cholesterol medicine and cough syrup.
The woman said she was tackled to the ground and sexually assaulted by Mr Lyons while walking home. During the attack she hit Mr Lyons over the head with her mobile phone as hard as she could and shouted at him to stop and that she was pregnant.
Mr Lyons ran away when passersby came to her aid. The woman was able to identify Mr Lyons soon after the attack while being driven around by gardaí.
Garda Cormac McGill told Kerida Naidoo, prosecuting, that Mr Lyons was arrested and interviewed three times by gardaí, and denied being linked to the incident. Mr Lyons returned to the Garda station that November 3rd after hiring a new solicitor. He handed in a prepared statement in which he admitted to the attack.
In the statement, read out in court by Mr Naidoo, Mr Lyons said he had taken Crestor cholesterol medicine on the day of the attack, along with Actifed cough syrup, and he had drunk four or five pints of Guinness.
Mr Lyons said he got into a taxi intending to go to Café en Seine in the city, but started getting “recurring stomach pain”. He got out to walk because he thought he would get sick. He said he only “recalls flashes” of going home, adding: “I do not recall the actual walk at all.” He said he passed a woman who became “extremely startled” when he put his arm around her and asked whether she was okay getting home.
He said when the woman lost her balance and fell, “I could not resist fondling her while she was on the ground”.
Mr Lyons said he got a “sudden shock” which was “as if being woken up” when he heard the woman shout she was being raped.
Garda McGill said Mr Lyons admitted to fondling the woman but “absolutely denied” tackling her to the ground or penetrating her.
The trial continues before Judge Desmond Hogan and a jury of 11 men and one woman.