A Sligo man accused of raping his wife has denied admitting to gardaí that he had sex with her against her will. He also denied making a statement to gardaí in which he said: "I have no regrets about having sex with my wife against her will. My only regret is that gardaí know about it."
Neither did he say, he told Mr John McLoughlin SC, defending, "In any event I had sex with her against her will. I surely agree to that."
He said he had never had sex with his wife against her will despite the fact that they had not had sex for 11 months at the time of the incident. "My wife never agrees to sex. It has been like that since we got married. We always had sex only once or twice a year," he said, denying he ever forced her.
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.
He said his words had been taken out of context by gardaí. He also denied gardaí read the statement out to him before he signed it. He told them he did not want it to be read over because he had known the chief investigating officer, Sgt Michael Prendergast, for 18 years and trusted him.
He said he was drunk at the time the statement was taken and that was one reason he had signed it without reading it.
Sgt Prendergast said in court that every word he had taken down was as said by the accused and he read the statement over to the accused before he signed it. He denied the accused had been drunk when he was arrested.
His wife, now legally separated from him, told the court he first attempted to rape her about 2 a.m. that night. He fell asleep during the attempt and later raped her when he woke up about 5 a.m.
The hearing continues before Mr Justice Carney and a jury.