A Dublin man charged with attempted rape admitted the offence when questioned by gardai, a Central Criminal Court jury heard yesterday.
Det Garda Martin Hughes said the accused was arrested on February 29th, 1996, and confessed to attacking a woman a month earlier at the Ballymun Junior Comprehensive School, situated across the road from the Garda station.
By pointing out of the window of the station, the accused illustrated his movements before and after the incident, the witness claimed.
Garda witnesses denied claims by Mr Erwin Mill Arden SC, defending, that his client made the statement through fear or that he was threatened or ill-treated.
Det Garda Hughes told Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, prosecuting, that the statement and memos of admission were made voluntarily.
He said the accused admitted he drank 10 small cans of beer before following other women and shouting suggestive remarks at them in the early hours of the morning.
He then spotted the victim walking on her own. He grabbed her, hit her and put her on the ground. He tried to rape her but she continued struggling and he fled, he claimed.
He said he was glad he did not manage to rape the victim and that he would not do anything like that again. He apologised for his actions, the garda said.
The 20-year-old accused man has pleaded not guilty to attempted rape and sexual assault of the 30-year-old woman in the grounds of the Ballymun school on January 15th, 1996.
The trial before Mr Justice Paul Carney and the jury continues.