A CORK man has pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the rape and sexual assault of a male friend at a flat in the city in March of last year.
The accused broke down in court as details of his attack against the 33-year-old learning-disabled victim were read out.
Det Garda Owen O’Connell told the court that the man was a family friend of the victim and at the time of the attack the pair had known each other over 15 years.
On the night of the assault the victim visited the man in his flat and they both drank alcohol and smoked what were described as “head shop joints”.
Garda O’Connell told Mr Justice Paul Carney the victim woke in the early hours of the morning to find the man orally and anally raping him.
Throughout the attack the victim repeatedly pleaded with him to stop. The victim remained in the flat until the next morning before going home and reporting the incident to a friend who brought him to hospital.
Hospital staff called gardaí who later arrested the man and brought him in for questioning.
Garda O’Connell told the court that the man, who repeatedly denied the assault until he was presented with DNA evidence, “showed little or no remorse or empathy” for his victim and “didn’t seem to grasp the seriousness” of the assault.
Under questioning from defence counsel Martin Giblin SC, Garda O’Connell agreed that the attacker also suffered from learning difficulties and could be classed “vulnerable” but “not to the same extent” as his victim.
Mr Justice Carney adjourned sentencing to next week.