VAN Morrison was not among the crowd crammed into Court No 4, but he made an appearance in evidence on the second day of Michelle Rocca's assault case against Cathal Ryan.
He featured in a line of questioning which defence counsel said was designed to establish that Ms Rocca's recent life was "inconsistent" with the trauma she claimed as a result of the alleged attack at a party in Kildare in 1992.
Questioned on the number of times she travelled abroad with her current fiance, she drew laughter with the comment: "Even when you're travelling you can have trauma." Indeed, there was quite a bit of laughter in court yesterday, scattered uneasily between bitter exchanges.
Some of the unintended humour arose from the exasperation of defence counsel, Mr Garrett Cooney, with what he saw as Ms Rocca's refusal to keep her answers short and simple. Once, when he asked her about a "disastrous" holiday with Mr Ryan and she replied with her memories - mainly pleasant - he interrupted: "I think you know I'm not asking you to describe Madeira."
Accused of a past assault on Mr Ryan, she said she had scratched his face in self-defence, but when it was put to her that Mr Ryan would say the row arose because he wouldn't help her, practise for her part in RTE's Play the Game, she laughed.
Then Mr Justice Moriarty provoked mirth when he rose for lunch with the comment that the hour's break might help ensure the whole case didn't degenerate into "a scenario from Play the Game".
Most of the remaining proceedings were deadly serious. In the sharpest exchange - on the subject of Mr Ryan's alleged alcohol abuse - Ms Rocca answered "no" when asked if she had ever undergone treatment for drinking. Pressed about four days she spent in Dublin's Rutland Centre last year, she said this was for depression resulting from the alleged attack.
"Four years later?" she was asked. "Yes, I had four years of hell because of Cathal Ryan."
Told that Mr Ryan would testify that on the night of the alleged incident he had woken to the "nightmare" of his female companion being dragged out of the bed by her hair by a "berserk" Ms Rocca, the latter responded angrily: "Bullshit."
Mr Cooney complained frequently that Ms Rocca was availing of every question to "blacken the name" of his client.
"These are not the sort of remarks that a responsible senior counsel should be making," said counsel for Ms Rocca, Mr Nicholas Kearns. "I won't take lectures from Mr Kearns," snapped Mr Cooney in reply. Mr Kearns objected that if Mr Cooney wanted a direction from the judge on the matter, he could ask: "He doesn't have to make a mini-speech to the jury every time."
Ms Rocca's cross-examination continued throughout the day. When she was asked why she had not called in the Garda at the time of the assault, she cited fear of media interest.
Mr Cooney was incredulous: "The media, Ms Rocca? Look at them," he said, with a sweeping gesture at the press benches to his right. "Who brought them here?"
