Man admits asking witness to lie

A salesman has denied he buggered a junior clerk after an office party but admitted he tried to get a witness to lie to gardai…

A salesman has denied he buggered a junior clerk after an office party but admitted he tried to get a witness to lie to gardai about his whereabouts on the night of the alleged incident.

He said he later asked the witness to tell the truth after he realised the seriousness of the allegations and revealed he spent the night in the room of another female colleague.

The man (38) is accused of buggery and sexual assault on the woman (22) in the Killiney Court Hotel, Dublin, on April 17th, 1997. It is the fifth day of the trial before Mr Justice Budd in the Central Criminal Court.

The defendant admitted to Mr Michael McDowell SC defending, that he contacted a colleague and asked him to tell gardai they had spent the night in the same hotel room. He told the jury he had spent the night sleeping on the spare bed in the same room as another female employee and was afraid his wife would find out.

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He agreed with Mr McDowell that he and the other salesman went to the alleged victim's hotel room after the party. She had agreed to make them tea and coffee. She said she was "knackered" and they left. They made phone calls to two other female employees and went to the room of one.

The defendant said he went in and propped himself up on a spare bed. He then noticed the other man had left but decided to stay. He talked for some time with the woman and fell asleep. When he woke she said: "What are you still doing here?" and seemed concerned that a female colleague would find out she and the defendant had slept in the same room.

He met the alleged victim at breakfast. There was nothing unusual in her appearance "except that she was hung over, like the rest of us". Asked if he had attacked the alleged victim he said: "I had no hand, act or part in it."

Cross-examined by Hugh Harnett SC the defendant denied he had a special company position because of family ties to two directors. He agreed that during the evening he asked a female employee if he could spend the night in her room.

The defendant's wife told Mr McDowell her husband had never shown interest in anal sex. He said it was not something that should be done between a heterosexual couple.

The hearing continues next week.