Man on trial for rape & robbery of pensioner
Tuesday, 23 January 2007
A 20-year-old man has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Limerick for the rape and robbery of a 75-year-old woman.
The accused is charged with two counts of raping the woman at her Co Tipperary home, threatening to kill her, and robbing her in the early hours of 22 May 2005. He denies all four charges.
Outlining the facts of the case to the jury of nine men and three women this morning, senior counsel Brendan Grehan said the woman was woken at around 3.40am that morning by an intruder who confronted her in her living room.
He went to walk out the back door and she attempted to lock it, the court was told.
He then forced his way back into the house, pushed her into the living room onto an armchair and raped her twice, the jury heard.
Afterwards he demanded money and took ¤100 from her purse. Before he left, the man threatened his victim not to call the gardaí or he would come back for her and her family, it was alleged.
The jury also heard that while she was able to give a good description of her attacker to the gardai, the woman was unable to identify him in a formal identification parade.
The court was told there would be evidence that a DNA sample taken from the accused man's boxer shorts after his arrest, matched that on the victim.
The trial continues.
