A jury has been told that the alleged sexual assault of a woman by a garda in a Co Wicklow Garda station was “consensual activity between two adults”.
Defence counsel in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial told the jury the defence case is that the woman cupped her own bottom cheeks, pressed herself against the accused garda and showed him her breast at the station before they went upstairs together for consensual sexual activity.
The woman repeatedly denied the defence assertions, telling the court that it “definitely did not happen”.
William Ryan (38) has pleaded not guilty to three counts of sexual assault and not guilty to one count of false imprisonment of the woman at Aughrim Garda Station, Main Street, Aughrim, Co Wicklow on September 29th, 2020.
It is the State's case that Mr Ryan prevented the complainant from leaving Aughrim Garda Station and sexually assaulted her three times.
The woman had gone to the Garda station for advice about retrieving her son's car, which had been seized by gardaí in Co Carlow the previous day.
The court has heard evidence that on the day in question, the complainant in the case went to Aughrim Garda Station to speak to Gda Ryan about the process of retrieving the impounded car.
She has told the court that prior to attending the station, she had a phone discussion with Gda Ryan who she said insisted she come to the Garda station to sort out the matter and told her to “wear something tight” before he hung up.
She told the court that at the station, Gda Ryan sexually assaulted her twice before “ushering” her upstairs, where he masturbated as she stood facing away from him and then sexually assaulted her again.
Continuing his cross-examination of the complainant on Friday, Breffni Gordon BL, defending, told the court the defence case is that while downstairs in the Garda station, the woman asked the garda if he liked her Snapchat photos, but that Gda Ryan had deleted Snapchat previously and told her he hadn't seen the photos in some time.
Defence counsel said the woman showed him her photos on her phone before she stood up, turned around, looked back over her shoulder at him and tapped her own bottom, before cupping her buttocks.
Defence counsel
“I definitely did not do that,” the woman replied.
Defence counsel put it to the woman that she pressed herself against the garda as he was working at his computer and he was “a bit bemused”. “He was a bit frozen on the spot,” Mr Gordon said. “That was his reaction. There was some sort of sexual tension in the air at that stage.”
“Definitely not, no,” the woman replied.
Defence counsel said the woman then suggested that rather than a photo, Gda Ryan might “rather see the real thing”. She lifted up her top and showed him her breast, the court heard.
“No, absolutely not,” the woman said.
Mr Gordon said the defence case is that they both went upstairs, with Gda Ryan going up first and the woman following.
He said she was “giggling”. He alleged that in the upstairs bathroom, she fondled Gda Ryan's penis through his trousers before he opened his trousers and she touched him until he ejaculated.
The witness rejected this account and said it did not happen.
Earlier, when asked by defence counsel why she didn't use her phone to call or text someone while downstairs in the station, the woman said she “didn't know what was coming next” and that she was in “flight, fright or freeze mode”.
When asked where she got that expression, the woman said she heard it in counselling and that her counsellor explained to her that “in a situation of trauma you do one of three things”.
Defence counsel asked the woman why she showed Gda Ryan an “explicit photo” of herself, noting that “common sense” would imply that doing so would ordinarily be seen as “encouraging rather than discouraging”.
“I wasn't in my right frame of mind,” the woman replied. “I was terrified. I was so scared.”
She agreed with defence counsel that it was “possible” Gda Ryan was among a group of people on Snapchat who were seeing images of herself that she was sending, but said she was not aware he was on Snapchat and that if he was, he didn't use his own name.
Defence counsel asserted that while upstairs, Gda Ryan told the woman to leave her phone outside the room.
“Maybe you were asked to leave your phone (outside) because you are a person known to be sending images around the place,” Mr Gordon said, to which the woman replied: “Absolutely not.”
The court heard that the woman made a statement to gardaí in November of that year and that the statement was made in a hotel. “I haven't been in a Garda station since and I won't either,” she said.
Under re-examination from Maurice Coffey SC, prosecuting, the woman said her Snapchat account was public and that she never sent any images to Gda Ryan personally.
The trial continues before Judge Elma Sheahan and the jury.
By Isabel Hayes
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