A MAN accused of raping a woman beside her boyfriend in a Tipperary hotel room told gardaí he had consensual sex with her and that she’d seemed “relaxed about it”.
The man said in an interview shortly after his arrest that the woman had been awake when he stripped in front of her and got into her bed and that he did not recall her boyfriend in the room.
The 26-year-old admitted he was drunk on the night but denied he only remembered what suited him and that he had sneaked into the couple’s room naked to have sex with the complainant.
The accused has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping the woman at the Tipperary hotel after a wedding function on July 7th, 2008.
Garda Declan O’Carroll said the man told him during the interview that he would have remembered the boyfriend if he had been in the bed.
The garda told Éanna Molloy, prosecuting with Caroline Cummins, that the accused said he could not remember any details of conversation with the woman before he went to her room.
Garda O’Carroll said he put it to the man that he did not seem to remember much of the night.
The accused said he had “no clue” how his belongings and clothes got into the adjoining room when he recalled getting undressed in the double room.
The trial continues before Mr Justice John Edwards and a jury of seven men and five women.