“He said relax, relax,': Man alleges farmer raped him in County Limerick

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A FARMER has been accused of raping a man in County Limerick after a night out, a court has heard.

The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has claimed he was anally raped by the accused in 2011 and in 2019 in the county of Limerick.

The trial, which commenced last week, is taking place before a jury at the Central Criminal Court, sitting in Limerick.

The accused, represented by Mark Nicholas SC and Liam Carroll BL, denies two counts of anal rape as well as engaging in a sexual act with a protected person who lacked the capacity to consent to the sexual act.

Senior prosecuting counsel, Fionnuala O’Sullivan, told the court the complainant initially made a disclosure about the alleged rape by the accused, who is married, during an appointment with his GP in April 2019.

Ms O’Sullivan said the complainant claimed that on January 6, 2011, the accused man told him he couldn't have sex with his wife and then raped him.

Ms O’Sullivan said the complainant told the accused “No”, and that he “didn't want to do it”.

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The prosecuting barrister, along with counsel Lily Buckley BL, instructed by Aoife O’Halloran, of the Chief State Solicitor’s Office, told the jury they would hear evidence of the complainant’s “intellectual capacity”.

The complainant, represented by Antoinette Simon BL, has alleged the accused also anally raped him a second time between April 7 and April 8 in 2019.

Ms O’Sullivan said that, during interviews with gardai, the accused “accepted that some sexual activity had occurred” between him and the complainant but that the man on trial “denied rape and penal penetration of the (alleged victim’s) anus”.

A recording of an interview between the complainant and gardai in May 2019 was played in court. The video showed the complainant saying that he and the accused went shopping and had a meal on the evening of April 7, 2019.

The complainant alleged that later that night, the accused dropped  him home, and alleged the accused raped him in his bedroom. The complainant told gardai the accused told him he needed to do exercises in bed. The alleged victim said the accused took off his own underpants and pants before feeling the complainant’s testicles and pulling him onto the bed.

The complainant told gardai the accused told him “you're very sexy, you’re turning me on”.

The complainant said he thought the farmer’s alleged behaviour was “strange”.

The alleged victim said he left and returned to his bedroom and the accused “took my pants off”.

“He (the accused) stood up and started fingering my hole, he said ‘you’re very tight’ and to ‘relax’.

“He (the accused) said relax, relax, and he started spitting down on my hole, he took his penis out and he was trying to stick his dick into my hole.”

“It was hurting me, my head was hitting the wall. He asked if I had I any Vaseline, then he started spitting and fingering me, and then he shoved his dick into me,” alleged the complainant

The complainant further alleged the accused became angry when his own penis failed to become erect, and that he (the farmer) tied a shoe lace around his own penis to try to make it “hard”.

The complainant further alleged that when the farmer was finished raping him, he laid down on the floor “between my balls and kissed them”.

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He further alleged the farmer left €150 cash beside him afterwards and said “Oh, I’ll pay you, here’s your 150 euro”.

The complainant also alleged that afterwards the accused got him to walk about in his underwear and told him, “oh, that’s nice”.

The complainant told gardai: “He (the accused) violated me, he took everything from me when he came into my house and forced himself on me”.

“I felt so dirty, he (the accused) took me when I was at my lowest, he thought it was funny.”

The complainant said that after the alleged rape he “scrubbed and scrubbed” himself in water and soap “as he was all over my body”.

The trial continues before a jury and Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring.