Alleged IRA man ‘threatened teen after raping him’

AN ALLEGED IRA man accused of raping two teenage boys in a republican safe house told one of them they would be “found on a border road” if they told anyone of the alleged rape, a jury has heard.

The man (45) has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to sexual assault and raping two boys in Co Louth in the early 1990s and in 2001.

On the second day of the trial, the second complainant told Patrick Gageby SC, prosecuting, that the house he lived in as a teenager was used to house people on their way to “missions” across the Border.

The man said that in 1992, on the night he turned 17, he went camping with his older brother and the accused. He said he woke up to discover the accused groping him.

He said a couple of weeks later, the accused said he did not want to sleep in his bedroom any more as he had seen his bed “floating”.

He said the owner of the house told the accused he could share with one of the boys and the accused asked the complainant if he could sleep in his bed.

Themansaidhewokeupto find the accused pushing his face into the pillow and raping him. He said he struggled and managed to get the accused off him after 30 seconds.

He said that when he tried to leave the room, the accused stopped him and told him that if he informed anyone of what had happened then he would be “found on a border road”.

The witness told Mr Gageby that when it came to “that organisation” there was no way to take that other than as a threat.

The man said he had a conversation in 2002 with the other complainant in the case about the incidents they allege happened.

He said he realised that if he had told someone about the alleged events at the time, then he might have saved the other man from abuse.

Earlier in the trial, the first complainant rejected what was put to him by John Fitzgerald SC, defending, 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. The complainant was aged in his early 20s at this time.

The man said he had been sure that the accused would admit his guilt and not put him through having to give evidence. He said there was no relationship ever and the accused was a sexual predator.

The trial continues.