A Bulgarian man accused of harassing a married Dublin woman denied that a long intimate affair he claims to have had with her is "a figment of his imagination".
"I can tell you where she has tattoos on her body," Vencislav Venev (39), a waiter, told Lisa Dempsey BL, prosecuting, in cross-examination.
He also denied Ms Dempsey's suggestion that the true nature of his relationship with Mary Gilhooley (48), Cannonbrook Park, Lucan, had been that of "a parent and child".
"If she was my parent, why was she coming to my bed for four years?" Mr Venev asked Ms Dempsey. Mr Venev told the jury he had sexual relations every day with Ms Gilhooley for the 18 months he lived in her house with her husband and son. He said this continued even after he left their home and found rented accommodation.
"She used to come and collect me and drive me in her car to her home. Her husband would be at work and she would take her child to a childminder. I would go to her house and move the furniture," he said.
Giving evidence through an interpreter, Mr Venev told Ms Dempsey that Ms Gilhooley was "controlling and manipulative".
He said she kept all his bank cards from the time he arrived in Dublin and dictated his movements. She accompanied him everywhere, whether it was shopping, the post office or cinema. They also dined together in various restaurants such as Chapter One, the Westbury and Shelbourne.
When Ms Dempsey pointed out to Mr Venev that the restaurants he had named were "quite expensive", he told her that they were paid for with his bank cards that Ms Gilhooley kept.
He said he had wanted to make additional contacts after he arrived in Dublin but Ms Gilhooley always had plans for him. Once, he said, he went to a disco with colleagues and when he came home he found she had cut several of his clothes with scissors.
He said he had to leave the house after Mr Gilhooley came into his room with a knife around Christmas of 2001. He claimed that Mr Gilhooley was very angry and was saying "you have my wife, you have my wife". When he told Ms Gilhooley about the incident she helped him find rented accommodation.
He said there had been a similar incident in October of that year when he bought Ms Gilhooley a wristwatch and Mr Gilhooley hit him above the eyes with a glass. He denied Ms Dempsey's suggestion that he was the one who had been jealous of Mr Gilhooley. The case continues.