Man on trial for rape pleads guilty to sexual assault

A 29-YEAR-OLD man on trial for the rape of a Co Clare woman yesterday pleaded guilty to her sexual assault.

On the third day of the trial at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Ennis, the man entered his guilty plea after discussions between his legal team and counsel for the State Brendan Grehan SC.

On Tuesday the man pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault against the woman at her home last year.

In court yesterday the accused replied “guilty” when arraigned on a new count of sexual assault on January 14th last year.

Mr Grehan told Mr Justice Paul Carney: “That plea is acceptable to the director of public prosecutions on the basis that it is agreed that the full facts as already outlined to the jury will be given at the sentencing hearing in respect of the matter.”

Mr Grehan said a nolle prosequi would be entered in relation to the three other charges at the conclusion of the sentencing hearing – the State will not be proceeding with those counts.

In his opening statement on Tuesday Mr Grehan said the two had known each other for a number of months before January 14th. “There was some previous intimacy and that often happened in the context of drink being consumed by both parties.”

The two had consensual sex on the night that the man was accused of the two counts of rape and one of sexual assault.

She had returned to the man in her bedroom after tending to her son. In his opening statement Mr Grehan told the jury: “The prosecution will be effectively saying to you that there is no such thing as a general giving of consent to another person to do anything they like to you, that the complainant, even though she hadn’t objected to having intercourse with the accused on the night or on other occasions, she did object to having anal intercourse and what happened thereafter.”

In court yesterday Mr Grehan asked for a victim impact report to be directed by the court and that the matter could be adjourned to July 30th at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin for sentencing.

Mr Justice Carney declared the accused a sex offender and remanded him in custody for sentencing to July 30th. He told the jury its services were no longer required and exempted members from jury service for 10 years.