Man convicted of raping woman who got lost on night out in Dublin

A jury has convicted a man of raping a woman he met after she became lost on a night out in Dublin.

Mohamed Okda (30), an Egyptian national, was staying in a friend's flat in February 2014 when he met the woman in an upset state.

Okda, formerly of Coolfin, Rathdowney, Co Laois, had pleaded not guilty to two counts of raping the woman and one count of sexual assault at a flat in Dublin city centre on February 9th, 2014.

After a seven-day trial at the Central Criminal Court, a jury took just under three hours to return unanimous guilty verdicts on all counts.

Mr Justice Michael Moriarty remanded the man into custody for sentence on July 28th.

Gardaí objected to an application for Okda to remain on bail as gardaí considered him a flight risk.

In her evidence, the married mother said she lived outside Dublin and was visiting the city with two female friends for a night out. At the end of the night she said she was drunk and tired, she lost her friends and became upset. Okda approached her and offered to help her find her friends, she said. He suggested she come back to the flat where she could continue to try to contact her friends. He subsequently raped and assaulted her in the flat.