A 13 year old boy told gardai he tried to have sex with a woman who was being held down by his sister, a Central Criminal Court jury heard on the tenth day of a rape trial.
The boy allegedly claimed he helped to rip the clothes from the woman whom he claims was raped by his cousin and two other boys in 1994.
In the alleged confession read to the court, the now 15 year old accused admitted he also tried unsuccessfully to have sex with the woman while she was held down by his sister.
Earlier, following seven days of legal argument, Mr Justice Moriarty directed the jury to acquit the accused's sister (18) and his cousin (also 18) of raping and sexually assaulting the 25 year old woman.
The 15 year old accused denies raping, sexually assaulting and assaulting the alleged victim, occasioning her actual bodily harm.
Prosecuting counsel, Mr Maurice Gaffney SC, said the accused's statement claimed the woman was lured to the field in a Westmeath town under the pretext of getting help to find the road on which her friend lived.
She was staggering from drink, so both the accused and his male cousin took her by the hands and walked her into the bushes where she was attacked.
A Garda witness told Mr Gaffney the accused was arrested on April 1st, 1994.
As he was aged only 13 years and four months at the time, his mother was asked to come to the Garda station to sit in while he was interviewed. For the first 15 minutes, the accused denied being in the vicinity of the alleged rape but then he agreed to make a statement.
The garda told the court the ace used named a friend as the female involved in the rape attack, but in a second statement he identified the female attacker as his sister. He also said he had given the wrong name for one of the other youths in his initial account.
In the first statement, which was read to the court, the boy allegedly said they had taken the woman to the field "to have a go at her", which meant to have sex with her.
The trial continues.