A KERRY man became “a crazed monster” when he raped an Australian tourist, it has been alleged at the Central Criminal Court.
The alleged victim, giving evidence from Australia via video link, claimed she thought the accused was going to kill her after he raped her.
She said he told her, “You’re not going anywhere, you’ll tell,” but she managed to flag down a taxi and escape. She denied a suggestion by defence counsel that she made up the allegation because she was embarrassed about having casual sex with the man. “I was raped and I thought I was going to be killed,” she said. “I’m changed; everything in my life has changed. He shouldn’t be able to get away with it – that’s why I’m here.”
The 25-year-old accused has pleaded not guilty to rape and four counts of sexual assault of the woman in Kerry on July 8th, 2009.
The woman told Pauline Walley, prosecuting, she was in Kerry on holidays. She was in a pub when the accused started talking to her. She may have had up to eight drinks. When she and her friends left to go to their accommodation, the accused went with them. When they reached the hostel, he asked to show the woman his old school. She agreed.
She said they walked for a while before they reached a green area. She said she then became scared because she was walking around late at night with someone she did not know. She said she told the accused she wanted to go home but that he started moving close to her, causing her to back away.
She said he “went all stiff, he changed” and tried to grab her. She ran away but he caught her and pushed her down. She told Ms Walley she screamed but he told her to shut up, and said: “Nobody can hear you, there’s no one coming.” She said he raped her despite her trying to kick and punch him.
She said when it was finished she got up and started walking away, but he told her “You’re not going anywhere, you’ll tell, you’ll tell.” She said he was talking to himself and “going a bit crazy”, and she saw a taxi and flagged it. When the driver dropped her at the hostel she told him: “You might have just saved my life.”
The woman agreed with Anthony Sammon, defending, that she and the accused had kissed briefly on the way to the green area, but said she could not recall another kiss outside the hostel witnessed by her friend.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of eight women and four men.