The trial of a celebrity charged with engaging in sexual acts with a 16-year-old girl is under way at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
The man, who is now in his 40s and who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of engaging in sexual acts with a child under the age of 17 at locations in Dublin on dates between August 2010 and December 2010.
He denies all of the charges against him.
Opening the case for the prosecution Senior Counsel Eilis Brennan, told the jury the accused was charged with the offence of defilement of a child.
She explained that the term, which was a rather old fashioned one, means performing certain sexual acts with a child under the age of 17.
Ms Brennan said the charge was brought under the Criminal Law Sexual Offences Act of 2006, which makes it an offence to perform such acts and was there to protect children.
She said the complainant in the case was 16 years old at the time of the alleged offences and the defendant was 27.
"There was an 11-year age gap," she said.
She said they met at a concert in 2010 and on three occasions later in the year it is alleged that he performed a sex act with her by placing his penis in her mouth.
"That is the case in a nutshell," Ms Brennan said.
Ms Brennan went on to tell the jury that they would hear evidence that the girl had finished Transition Year in school when she met the accused at the Oxygen music festival concert in 2010.
She at first told him she was 18, but later told him she as 16, Ms Brennan said. After the concert they were in contact by phone.
They jury was told it will hear evidence that the pair met on a later occasion when he took her to his place of work and she performed oral sex in a stairwell.
Ms Brennan said that a similar sex act took place at the man's home on two occasions later that year. On one of those occasions he had got her tickets to a concert, the jury was told.
The jury was told the offence of defilement of a child was set out in the act and the aim was to protect children from sexual acts. Engaging in oral sex was one of those acts, Ms Brennan said.
'Honest belief'
She told the jury it was not a defence to say the child consented. If a defence of "honest belief" as to a person's age could be raised, the jury could consider the presence or absence of reasonable grounds for the defendant to have such a belief, she added.
She said it was the prosecution’s case that in 2010 when the complainant was 16 the sexual act took place and that the defendant was aware that the girl was under 17.
The trial before Judge Pauline Codd and a jury is expected to last four to five days.
At the outset of the trial, Judge Codd told the jury that the case may attract media attention but they must disregard any media coverage.
She also warned the jury not to conduct any internet searches about the case as to do so would be fundamentally unfair to the prosecution and the defence.
Any such searches could produce information that could be false or misleading, she said. She said any person before the court is entitled to a fair trial by an unbiased jury on the basis of the evidence put before the court.
'Kept in contact by text message'
In the witness box, the complainant described how she met the defendant at the Oxegen music festival after she became separated from friends when she was taken to safety by security, as there was a crush near the stage where Eminem were performing.
The defendant was on the other side of the barrier and he had handed his phone to her via a security guard and she put her phone number into it and handed it back to the security guard.
She said he had come up behind her and they had kissed on that occasion but there was not much conversation because the music was so loud.
The complainant said in the weeks that followed they kept in contact by text message, texting almost every day or every second day while getting to know each other.
They continued texting while she was at the Gaeltacht, although she could not remember if she specifically told him at the time where she was. "I think I said I was there," she said.
She said she initially told the defendant she was 18, but said she later "came clean" and told him she was 16. The conversation took place over text message.
She said he had asked if she was really "sweet 16" and she had replied "yes". She said it was "quite a mortifying conversation that is why I remember it" because she had "put everything on the table".
The reason the subject of her age arose was because it became clear during certain conversations that she knew nothing about going to college.
The complainant said after revealing her real age the defendant told her he was 27 and she was too young for him. She believed he would not talk to her again and "that would be the end. I thought this is over".
She said a day or two later he texted to ask "can you keep a secret?" and they continued texting and talking on the phone. At that stage, she knew what he did for a living as it had come up in conversation.
She said they spoke about her having been to the Gaeltacht as she wore coloured bands on her wrist that she had been awarded.
When they next met in person she said they went to his office because he needed to collect something. They had taken the lift to an open-plan office, but on the way out took a fire escape type stairwell.
At the end of the stairs the door was locked and as she turned to go back upstairs he pulled her towards him and they began kissing. She said he then "gently pushed me down to perform oral sex which I did".
She said he then took down her dress and removed her bra. A few minutes later they returned to the office while he went to the bathroom. He gave her a fizzy drink, which was on one of the tables before they left the building and went their separate ways.
The complainant said they stayed in touch for quite a while on and off, sometimes texting every day then maybe a gap of a week or two. He would often ring her late at night and they would "go through" and talk about what had happened.
They later arranged to meet up and he gave her directions to his home. He met her in the area and took her to his home.
She said when they entered the premises he kissed her before lifting her up and carrying her to his bedroom when she gave him oral sex and he performed oral sex on her.
Later in the year, in December, she was going to a concert with friends. She said he got her a ticket and she went to his home to collect the ticket and on that occasion she had again performed oral sex on him and he on her.
Her evidence continues.
