A Dublin woman who alleges a Bulgarian waiter she met on holiday harassed her has continued to deny she had a long clandestine affair with him.
Mary Gilhooley (48), Cannonbrook Park, Lucan, has maintained for three consecutive days under cross-examination, by defence counsel Sean Guerin BL, that her relationship with him has always been that of a family friend she wanted to help.
Vencislav Venev (39), from a Bulgarian village on the Black Sea coast, has denied harassing her via telephone and by other means on dates between May 1st, 2004 and July 14th, 2004.
Ms Gilhooley, a married medical secretary, said there was no truth to Mr Venev's claim that they had a passionate and intimate love affair for five years since they met at a Bulgarian restaurant in 1999.
She agreed with Mr Guerin that she had been to Galway in September 2000 alone with Mr Venev shortly after he arrived in Dublin when she had secured him a job and work permit in July.
She denied, however, that pictures produced in court by Mr Guerin showing them posing close together in various parts of Galway city indicated they had a more intimate relationship than she claimed.
She agreed that in one of the pictures, in which they had their arms around each other, she was carrying a bunch of red roses. She said, however, that she could have bought the flowers herself and explained that even if Mr Venev had bought them for her it did not imply romance.
She said it was common in Bulgarian culture to give red roses to friends as Bulgarians grew them for perfume. She denied she bought a Claddagh ring for him but said he bought one for himself in Galway after she explained its significance to him.
She said it was not a preposterous suggestion, as Mr Guerin said, that having gone to Galway together they returned to Dublin, she with red roses she bought for herself, and Mr Venev with a Claddagh ring he bought for himself.
She denied that a picture taken in Bulgaria of herself and Mr Venev kissing each other on the mouth showed kissing of a "vigorous and passionate" nature. She said the picture was posed and meant nothing. She said she had been framed for the last two years.
She also denied she told Mr Venev where she was going to stay when she was on holiday with her husband in Tunisia in June 2004, a time during which, she had earlier told the court, he harassed her constantly on the phone by ringing her on average 20 times a day.
She told prosecuting counsel Lisa Dempsey BL, that Mr Venev had found out where she was staying by calling every hotel listed on travel agent Panorama's holiday brochure.