Accused claims he had consensual sex with alleged rape victim years later

An alleged IRA member accused of raping two teenage boys at a republican safe house has told his trial he had consensual sex with one of the complainants years later.

The man (45) said he had stayed at the boys’ home about “half a dozen” times for up to two nights on each occasion in the early 1990s while working a casual job.

He told John Fitzgerald SC, defending, that he got to know the two boys through this work, but denied sexually abusing them. The man said he finished this work in the 1990s and met one of the complainants, by chance, years later.

The accused said this man told him he was bisexual and they subsequently had a consensual sexual relationship over a few months.

The man has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to charges of sexual assaulting and anally raping two boys in Co Louth on dates in the early 1990s and in 2001.

The man told Mr Fitzgerald he had noticed that the complainant with whom he had had a sexual relationship seemed “distressed” during their final meeting.

The accused said the complainant informed him he had told another person he had sexually abused him . The accused said this was the last time he saw that complainant.

When asked by his counsel if he had anally raped either boy or slept in a bed with them, he replied: “Absolutely not”.

Patrick Gageby SC, prosecuting, put it to the man that a large number of people had “invented” his “strong and long presence” at the home.

The man replied that “it would appear so” and agreed that he was “victim of a series of unfortunate lies”.

When asked if any family member had a reason to be a false witness against him, the man responded that the father may not have “supported or liked” people who were gay.

He denied he had decided to run a “smear campaign” against one of the complainants to get around the allegations he was facing in the trial. He told Mr Gageby he was not lying about his relationship with that complainant.

Earlier, Detective Garda Seamus Nolan agreed with Mr Fitzgerald that his client had never been arrested for any "alleged subversive activities".

The detective agreed that gardaí ­ had had no intelligence the accused was involved in any paramilitary organisation until the complainants came forward with their allegations.

The trial has reached closing stages before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury.