A former prostitute who claims she was raped by three men agreed in the Central Criminal Court that some of her evidence did not match her earlier statements.
The three accused, all Romanians aged 40, 31 and 30 respectively, have pleaded not guilty to charges of rape, oral rape and false imprisonment of the woman in the Collins Barracks, Brunswick Street and Islandbridge areas of the city on 28 March, 2000.
Two of them deny raping her and falsely imprisoning her at an address on the North Circular Road on the same date, and one of them denies robbing about £140 from her at Islandbridge.
The woman claims she was bundled into a car which approached her in the red-light Benburb Street area of Dublin and forced into sexual activity, including sexual intercourse, against her will in the car and in a flat near the junction of Dorset Street and the North Circular Road.
Prostitute was aware there were three men
She agreed with Mr Justice Barry White she had replied to prosecuting counsel Mr Patrick Gageby SC that she informed them she did not do 'business with three blokes and only with one bloke' and this would indicate she was aware there were three men in the car in which she claims she was abducted.
She also agreed with Mr Justice White that she was able to tell Garda Vanessa O'Keefe the name which came up on one of the accused man's mobile phone, but she couldn't explain how she could have seen it. 'It might have been the way it was held,' she said.
The woman, whose evidence and cross-examination has now ended, further agreed with the judge that the rear seats in the car had to be folded forward into the vehicle but said she didn't have to get out to allow this. She added that two of the men were in the rear of the car with her.
Garda spoke to victim earlier that night
Garda O'Keefe told Mr Gageby that the alleged victim came into the Bridewell in the early hours of the morning in a hysterical state claiming she had been raped by three men who bundled her into a car and took her to a flat.
The woman gave her a wallet with the alien's card belonging to one of the accused and showed her the flat near Dorset Street. She took the woman to hospital for tests and took her statement.
Garda O'Keefe said she knew the woman for some five years and had spoken with her in Benburb Street at around 2am on the morning of the alleged rape. She was in good form then, she said.
Garda O'Keefe told Mr Justice White she did not carry out any further investigations in Benburb Street with other 'working girls' about anything they might have seen that night. The street was quiet that night with few prostitutes 'working'.
The trial continues before Mr Justice White and a jury of nine men and three women.
