WELFARE OFFICIAL DENIES CLAIM HE ASKED FOR ORAL SEX, TRIAL HEARS
THE trial of a 48 year- old Department of Social Protection official who allegedly asked a mother of four for oral sex in return for getting her out of trouble after she was caught working while claiming Lone Parent’s Allowance is expected to conclude tomorrow ( Wednesday).
The trial at Sligo Circuit Court before a jury of six men and six women has heard the woman went to the Department offices at Cranmore and subsquently attended an interview with senior official, Andrew Gilmartin ( right) of Drumfad, Grange.
He has pleaded not guilty to a charge of coercion and told Gardaí that he totally refuted the allegation.
The woman has denied lying about the incident or that she made the complaint in order to get money. The accused told Gardai ‘ she became upset because I had mentioned prosecution.’
The prosecution closed its case on Friday afternoon.
A mother of four has claimed a social welfare officer asked her to perform a sex act on him after she went to the Department of Social Protection to discuss the fact she had been caught working while claiming Lone Parent’s Allowance.
Martha Rooney told a jury of six men and six women that Andrew Gilmartin, an executive officer at the Department based at Government Buildings, Cranmore had been sitting the opposite side of a desk from her and had his feet on the table with his hands behind his head when he allegedly made the remarks.
Ms Rooney claimed Gilmartin stated: “Here’s how it’s going to happen, here’s what you are going to do for me. You are going to give me a b****** b.”
Gilmartin ( 45) of Drumfad, Grange has pleaded not guilty to a charge of compelling the woman to do an act which she had a lawful right to abstain from doing on April 9, 2014 at the office.
The trial began on Thursday last and continues today ( Tuesday) before Judge Keenan Johnson.
Outlining the prosecution case, Ms Dara Foynes BL with State Solicitor Hugh Sheridan said the accused had mentioned arrest and prosecution with Ms Rooney and that it was alleged that at the end of interview he asked her for oral sex in return for “getting her out of trouble.”
The trial heard that Ms Rooney had gone to the offices around 9am to sort her situation out having received a letter about her working for a number of weeks at the Southern Hotel.
She had also enrolled in a National Learning Network course to study for her Junior Certificate which would also have affected her Lone Parent’s Allowance.
Ms Rooney, who cried whilst giving evidence, said she asked to speak to someone in the Lone Parents Section and after a short period waiting was beckoned into an interview room by Gilmartin. She hadn’t met him before.
“I shook his hand as I was practising my interview skills and I introduced myself,” said Ms Rooney.
“I told him I was looking for help, that I was in a bit of trouble, that I was working and drawing for five or six weeks in the Southern Hotel.
“He said it would be okay, that we’d be able to sort it out,” she said. He asked her if there was anything else he needed to know and she told him she had gone back to do her junior cert through the NLN.
He told her the situation was far more serious, that it was fraud, that she was defrauding the sytem.
“He was pacing up and down,” she said. He left the room for a couple of minutes and when he returned he began to “get really upset and angry.”
He told me it was three counts of fraud, that it was far more serious.
“He locked his door behind him when he returned to the room and he also leaned across the desk and closed the other door behind me, telling me it was an interview. He seemed very annoyed,” said the witness.
Ms Rooney said Gilmartin sat down and went quiet for awhile with his hands in his pockets and appeared to be in deep thought. He got up and was pacing, again appearing to be in deep thought.
“He said he would help me but that he would have to keep it between us and I said thank you. He said that he would have to pull a lot of strings to get me out of the trouble I was in and I thanked him again,” she said.
Ms Rooney told Gilmartin that she got into financial difficulty and had been working to save for a child’s birthday. She wanted to do her junior certificate as her mother had done it before she died in 2011 and she promised her she would do it.
Ms Rooney said Gilmartin didn’t seem to care about this and began to ask her what was she going to do for him. “I just passed this off,” she said.
“I knew something was wrong, like I was there forever,” she said. Gilmartin asked again what was she going to do for him to stop him from prosecuting her. Ms Rooney said she focussed on one spot.
It was then she alleged that Gilmartin told her she was going to perform oral sex on him.
“I said no and I ran out of the room. I unlocked the door and ran and I kept running until I got to Dunnes.
“As I was leaving I said to him, ‘ I have you on record and he said, ‘ I’ll see you in court.’ I didn’t, I was lying,” said Ms Rooney.
She met her partner at Dunnes Stores, Gavin McGuinn after she rang and told him to come and get her. They went to Sligo Garda Station and made a statement of complaint to Garda Ruth Gibbons.
In the days after that incident she said she was constantly shaking, couldn’t sleep or eat and could not leave the house. She had to take valium and sleeping tablets,” she said.
In reply to Mr Gary Staines BL with Mr Michael Staines, solicitors ( defending), Ms Rooney agreed the form which had been sent to her by the Department of Social Welfare indicating she had been working while claiming had never been filled out and returned. Ms Rooney said she had mislaid it, finding it a couple of months later.
Ms Rooney said she separated from her husband in 2006 and the Lone Parent Allowance was paid through a bank account in her maiden name. She had worked in the Southern Hotel from June 7th to July 12th 2013 but had left as she wasn’t able to work anymore after she cut her thumb. She began with the NLN in 2013 and was an 18 month course where a FAS allowance was paid.
She didn’t realise she couldn’t claim Lone Partent Allowance at the same time and had been told by a NLN manager that it was okay.
It was put to the witness that in November 2013 she was asked to fill out a Lone Parent Allowance form and she failed to indicate she was on a FAS training course.
Witness agreed that she had ticked a box, ‘ no’ when answering a question whether she was attending a course of eduction. Ms Rooney said she didn’t know that she didn’t tick the ‘ yes’ box.
It was also put to Ms Rooney that she replied no to a question about whether she was working or had worked since receiving her Lone Parent Allowance and that she also said ‘ no’ to having a bank account.
“Do you accept you have lied on three occasions on that form” - Mr Staines. “Yes,” replied the witness. She also accepted she was liable to prosecution as a result of what she had put on the form.
It was in the past couple of months that she was living with her partner, Gavin McGuinn and they had two children together. She was claiming Lone Parent’s Allowance since 2009.
The witness agreed that her partner had been in difficulties after he took money from his mother’s bank account. She was not aware that at the time of this, he used her address.
“He only stayed for a couple of weeks when his mother kicked him out. He was drinking and gambling at the time and I didn’t want him around the kids,” she said.
Ms Rooney told Mr Staines that Gilmartin was shouting a lot about fraud during the interview.
Mr Staines said the accused accepted that he lost control with her and was unprofessional in this. He had left the room to find out what the NLN was and he stated that when he returned he locked both doors.
The witness said the accused told her she was overpaid by about € 1,500.
“He says that you were upset and crying, that you were so upset he opened the door and let you out”- Mr Staines. “That is a lie. I opened the door” - Ms Rooney. Mr Staines put it to Ms Rooney that there wasn’t enough room for the accused to pace up and down and that he was sitting down at all times.
Ms Rooney insisted that the accused had been pacing the room. She agreed that it wasn’t in her statement to Gardai that the accused had his feet on the table or his hands behind his head.
“It is true. He sat that way. I know what happened in that room,” said witness.
Ms Rooney said the accused had told her she was going to perform a sex act on him and that “was going to be the end of it.” She believed he was going to jump over the table to her and for it to take place there and then.
“No, he didn’t jump over because I got out of there like a bullet,” she said.
Ms Rooney agreed there was a window in the room and it was possible for people to look in.
Mr Staines said her belief that the sex act was to take place there and then sounded utterly incredible and fantastical. Mr Staines also pointed out that the walls were thin and there was a busy post room next door.
Ms Rooney accepted she has instructed a solicitor to take a civil action in June 2015 against the accused and the Department. It was put to the witness that in her solicitor’s letter allegations of sexual assault and false imprisonment have been made.
Ms Rooney replied that she never said the accused had sexually assaulted her. He never touched her. She wasn’t aware what her solicitor wrote.
“That’s the real reason you’re here, that it’s all about money?” - Mr Staines. “No, it’s not about money,” replied Ms Rooney. Mr Staines said the one way to get out of trouble was to make a complaint.
“At no stage did he make any sexual reference to you” - Mr Staines.
“He did,” replied Ms Rooney. She asked why would she drag herself and her family through this if it wasn’t true.
“I’m not lying. I know exactly what happened in that room. I’m the one that’s living with it,” she said. Mr Staines said the accused was only trying to help her and he was the one taken advantage of and that he did nothing wrong.
“You can suggest all you like but I’m not lying,” said the witness.