A man accused of raping his wife has denied he was a "sex-mad alcoholic" and had forced sexual intimacy on her against her will. The 46-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to raping and attempting to rape his wife on July 21st, 1997, at their house in Sligo.
In cross-examination by Mr Gerard Clark SC, prosecuting, on the third day of the trial at the Central Criminal Court yesterday, he said their sex life had never been good and he "always, always" had to beg and coax her into sexual activity. This is what he did on the night of the alleged rape as well, he told the jury. When she initially refused to have sex with him, he managed to persuade her otherwise.
Asked how he did so, he replied: "Pleading and begging and asking until she agreed. Just like in every other relationship. We had sex two or three times a year, max," he said, denying that despite the situation, he never had sex with her against her will.
He said she refused to have sex with him when she was pregnant and she had always been pregnant in their eight years of marriage "because she wanted to have all the children together". He also denied he was lying about being drunk at the time of his arrest to persuade the jury that his alleged confessions were made while he was under the influence of alcohol.
He had told gardaí when he was arrested on September 15th, 1999: "I have no regrets about having sex with my wife against her will. My only regret is that gardaí know about it."
His statement, read out in court, also says he told gardaí that "in any event I had sex with her against her will. I surely agree to that." He said he had 12 pints of Guinness in the three or four hours before he was arrested and said the smell would still have been on him when he was arrested. He could not explain how arresting gardaí or the doctor who later took blood samples from him at the station failed to notice his inebriation.
He denied lying about drinking and said he could produce a letter from the publican to state that he had been drinking in her pub before he was arrested that day. He said his words had been taken out of context by gardaí. He had not read over the statement because he had reading difficulties and it would have taken him two hours.
The trial before Mr Justice Carney is expected to end tomorrow.