A WOMAN HAS told a trial that she was sexually assaulted on the afternoon of her second date with a young man she had met on Tinder, while he thought she was asleep in his bedroom.
The alleged victim (25) said she had pretended to be sleeping because he had got “very clingy and very full on” as they were lying on his bed watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on TV.
The trial at Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court heard the parents of the accused, who was aged 20 at the time of the alleged offence, were also at home during the incident.
The man, who now resides outside Ireland, pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexually assaulting the woman at his family’s duplex apartment in a town in Co Wicklow on 12 March 2017.
The trial heard that the woman got to know the accused through the adult dating site, Tinder, but they had mutual friends on other social media.
She agreed to watch a movie in the accused’s house for their second date because she knew his parents would be at home and she thought it would be “a safe environment.”
The witness said she met his parents briefly before they went to his bedroom where they watched the film, The Young Offenders and had some non-alcoholic drinks.
Asked by counsel for the DPP, James Kelly BL, if anything happened, the woman replied: “Yes, but not consensually.”
She said they initially kissed and the accused had cuddled into her which she “didn’t mind too much.”
At one stage, however, she said he tried to put his hand down the front of her trousers.
The woman said she very clearly told him “no” and that she did not want that to happen.
However, she said he would not stop and she began to feel really uncomfortable and did not know what to do.
When she pretended to be asleep so that he might leave her alone, she claimed he took it as an opportunity to take advantage of her.
The woman said he wrapped his arms and legs around her and fondled her breasts before opening the button of her trousers and trying to put his hand down them.
While he managed to pull down her trousers to her thighs, she said he was unable to put his fingers inside her because of a bodysuit she was wearing.
At another stage, she felt that he had taken out his penis and was thrusting up behind her.
The witness said he also grabbed her hands and tried to place them on his penis.
She said she pretended to be “totally clueless” after the man eventually got up and came back from the toilet.
The woman said he gave her “this smug smirk and little giggle and asked did I enjoy my sleep.”
She claimed he told her that he thought something was going to happen but stopped when he realised she was asleep.
“I knew full well he didn’t stop,” she added.
The woman said she agreed to allow the man to drive her home as she had to go to work that night.
Asked if she had any further contact with the man, she said she had subsequently blocked him from all social media.
The woman said she told a friend later that night about what happened who advised her to go to the Gardaí.
Under cross-examination by counsel for the accused, Roderick O’Hanlon SC, she denied his suggestion that she had fallen asleep from “utter exhaustion” because she had worked the previous night and had not had any sleep before going on the date.
The woman also rejected the suggestion that she had dreamed or imagined that she had been sexually assaulted.
The trial heard that the woman had reminded her friend after returning from the date that the friend had told her the previous week about a similar incident which had happened to her.
However, the witness said she could not recall the details of what was said between them.
The woman claimed she had also been thrown around the bed by the accused “into positions that suited him.”
Asked by O’Hanlon if she was not aware that the accused’s parents could be attracted at all stages by one shout, she replied that she could not be 100% certain if they were still in the building.
The accused’s mother, who gave evidence via video link from abroad, said she had advised her son that it was better to meet people in real life and not to use Tinder after he subsequently informed her that he was not meeting the woman again.
She said her son had asked her several days before the date to have the house clean as a girl was calling over.
The trial before a jury of seven men and five women continues tomorrow.
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