A PSYCHOLOGIST has told a rape trial the now 15 year old defendant has an IQ of 72 and would have had difficulty using some of the grammatical constructions which appear in his alleged confession.
Mr Kevin Brennan, a psychologist attached to Trinity House boys' detention centre in Lusk, told the Central Criminal Court that when he drew up a report in October 1995, the defendant had a level of mental functioning no greater than a seven year old.
His intelligence and verbal skills were low and he was not capable of abstract thinking, Mr Brennan told Mr Seamus Sorahan SC (with Ms Delia Flynn), defending, on the 11th day of the trial.
The defendant denies raping, sexually assaulting and assaulting the alleged victim (25), occasioning her actual bodily harm in a field in a Westmeath town on the morning of March 26th, 1996.
Following seven days of legal argument in the absence of the jury, the defendant's sister (18), and his male cousin (18), were acquitted of similar charges by direction of Mr Justice Moriarty.
The court has heard the boy allegedly admitted the rape in a statement made to the Garda on April 1st, 1994. In it, he allegedly claimed the woman was lured to the field under the pretext of providing help to find the road on which her friend lived.
She was staggering from drink so both he and his cousin took her by the hands and walked her into the bushes where she was attacked.
In the statement, the defendant allegedly said his sister held the woman down while she was raped by his cousin and two other boys. The defendant allegedly further admitted he also attempted unsuccessfully to have sex with her.
The defendant's mother told the court she was called to the Garda station because her son was only 13 years old at the time. But when she arrived, some of the papers on the table in the interview room were already filled in.
She denied a suggestion by Mr Maurice Gaffney SC (with Ms Una McGurk), prosecuting, this was not true. But she agreed she did not stop her son signing the alleged confession and she also put her "cross" on it.
The trial continues.