A jury at the Central Criminal Court has heard that a foreign national denied he raped his wife at their home but claimed he was "rough with her".
A Garda sergeant read a statement by the accused in which he told gardai: "Ah, lads, you can't be serious. I was rough with her, but I didn't rape her."
The 41-year-old father of a family denies three charges of rape, attempted anal rape and aggravated sexual assault on his wife on the night of July 18th-19th, 1998, at their home in a county in Munster.
The jury also heard on the fourth day of the trial that gardai uncovered two unlicensed shotguns in the house.
The accused said in the statement that he and his wife had not shared the same bed for three years but had sex occasionally. He said he told his wife he was "annoyed" at the way she treated his friends at a barbecue that had taken place some time earlier. He said he "got mad" and pulled at her nightie in their sitting room. The sergeant denied a suggestion from Mr John Phelan SC (with Mr Philip Sheahan), defending, that he inserted phrases into the defendant's statement which were invented and that the defendant had never uttered.
Mr Phelan said his client would deny in evidence that he told gardai: "I was in two minds whether to have full sex with her or not." He said it was not the phraseology his client would use.
Counsel further suggested to the sergeant that his client would also take exception to the sentence in the statement: "I can't remember whether I penetrated [the alleged victim] or not, but I could have."
The sergeant denied he showed scant regard to the accused while he was detained in an effort to get answers to questions "one way or another". "I gave him every opportunity to tell his side of the story", he said.
Another sergeant told Ms Maureen Clarke SC (with Mr Des Zaiden), prosecuting, that he and other gardai drove to the accused man's home after his arrest to see its layout.
He told Mr Phelan in cross-examination that the accused offered him a licensed shotgun, but after looking in a wardrobe he uncovered two other shotguns.