'Making eyes' at accused denied

A WOMAN who claims she was raped by three men and urinated on in her Monaghan home has denied “making eyes” at one of the men…

A WOMAN who claims she was raped by three men and urinated on in her Monaghan home has denied “making eyes” at one of the men before the alleged attack. Under cross-examination by the defence yesterday at the Central Criminal Court, she denied “developing an attachment” to the accused.

The woman says she was held down while the three men took turns raping her after a row over missing vodka. It is also alleged that her boyfriend was beaten and knocked unconscious.

The first accused (28) is alleged to have falsely imprisoned the woman, to have raped her orally, vaginally and anally and to have assaulted her and her partner. The second man (20) is accused of assaulting the couple, falsely imprisoning the woman and vaginal and oral rape. The third man (20) is accused of vaginal rape. All three have pleaded not guilty to all counts.

The attacks are alleged to have taken place in November 2010.

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Alexander Owens SC, for the first accused, suggested she was drunkenly “making eyes” at his client but was told to “get lost”. He said she was eager to drink with the group but was stopped by his client because she was pregnant.

She said she was only slightly drunk before the alleged rape and it was only afterwards that she became intoxicated with her partner.

She said the violence started a few days earlier when she hid a bottle of vodka belonging to the first accused because “there was too much drinking in the house”.

She said he confronted her partner about this and started to beat him, leaving him with a black eye. She said he was later assaulted again and left unconscious for four hours in the back yard. She eventually put him to bed in a box room so he could not be assaulted any more.

Mr Owens asked her why she had originally told gardaí she was raped in a bedroom but was now saying it happened in the living room. “Maybe I made a mistake . . . I was stressed out at that time.”

The trial continues before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury.