The jury in the case of an alleged IRA man accused of raping two teenage boys at a "republican safe house" two decades ago has resumed its deliberations at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.
The 45-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault in Co Louth on dates in the early 1990s and in 2001.
The court heard the boys lived in a large house owned by a "dedicated republican" which was used as a "safe house".
The first complainant testified that he lived in the house in Louth in the 1980s and 1990s to which IRA volunteers would be brought during the night to stay for a few days or weeks.
He said the accused man first came to stay in the house around 1991 or 1992, that he became part of the family and that he looked up to him as a "big brother figure".
However, he said that the accused began to sexually abuse him when he was 13 or 14 years old.
He rejected defence claims that he had been in a relationship with the accused and had engaged in consensual sexual activity on the night in 2001 he alleges he was raped. He was aged in his 20s by that time.
He said he was fully sure the accused would admit his guilt and not put him through having to give evidence.
The second complainant testified that the house he lived in as a teenager was used to accommodate people on their way to "missions" across the border.
He said on the night he turned 17 he was sexually abused by the accused on a camping trip and subsequently abused again at the house.
He also said when he tried to leave the room the accused stopped him and warned him if he told anyone what had happened he would be "found on a border road".
He said that when it came to "that organisation" there was no way to take that other than a threat.
The accused man testified that he stayed at the house about "half a dozen" times for up to two nights on each occasion in the early 1990s while working a casual job.
He denied, however, sexually abusing the two boys and agreed with prosecuting counsel that he was "the victim of a series of unfortunate lies".
The court also heard that gardaí had no intelligence the accused was involved in any paramilitary organisation until the complainants came forward with their allegations.
The jury began their deliberations yesterday and Mr Justice Paul McDermott sent them out again to resume this morning
