Taxi driver raped me on way home, claims woman
on 04/11/2009 19:31:06
A Limerick taxi driver has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court accused of raping a young woman on her way home after a night out.
The man has pleaded not guilty to two counts of raping and sexually assaulting the woman in his car at a secluded place in Limerick on October 17, 2007.
Prosecution counsel, Mr Thomas Creed SC, told the jury in his opening address that it would hear evidence that the complainant got separated from her friend at a crowded nightclub and went to hail a cab home on her own.
He said there would be evidence that the accused picked the woman up and drove her to a secluded area in the county where he raped her.
Mr Creed said the accused allegedly told the woman he would withdraw from her because he did not have a condom.
Mr Creed (with Mr John O'Sullivan BL) said the complainant alleges the man sexually assaulted her after the rape.
Mr Creed told the jury it would hear how the complainant tried to take a picture of her alleged assailant on her mobile phone once he had climbed off her, but that he grabbed it off her and checked it before giving it back.
He said the complainant would say she noticed the fare on the cab's meter had gone up to about €40 but that the driver did not ask for money and that she texted her friend about the alleged rape once she got out of the car.
He said gardaí used a receipt, which the complainant would say she grabbed on her way out of the car, to track down the accused.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and a jury of eight men and four women.