Disagreement among jury in trial of man who allegedly raped his sleeping wife

The case, investigated by Detective Sergeant Kevin McCarthy and Detective Garda Linda Lyons, went to trial before Judge Mary Ellen Ring and a jury of seven men and five women after the man pleaded not guilty to a charge of raping his wife.

After deliberating the evidence for more than ten hours, Judge Ring informed the defendants that they had the opportunity to enter a dissent on the record if they felt that additional time would not enable them to reach a verdict with which at least ten of them could agree.

Shortly after being informed of this, the jury returned to the Sixth Chamber of the Central Criminal Court in Cork and, after 10 hours and 23 minutes of deliberation, announced that it had reached an impasse and wished to record a difference of opinion.

What the jury was not told was that the exact same result had been reached in the same case earlier this year with a jury that could not agree and that this was effectively a retrial.

The case is now postponed until October 7 to give the Attorney General time to further review the case. The accused is released on bail.

Transcript

The plaintiff stated that they had not slept together at the time of the rape in question and that she had also told him that she was taking a sleeping pill.

The plaintiff testified that on the night of the controversial rape in September 2020, her husband, who was sleeping on the couch in the house, had been drinking since 5 p.m., a relative’s anniversary. The plaintiff had been on vacation with her adult children until that day.

“He basically wanted to know everything I was doing while I was away and asked me about my friends. He meant if they were more than friends – which they weren’t. As the evening went on, he became more and more verbally aggressive,” she said.

She told the jury she had decided not to leave him alone because of the anniversary. She said she drank a bottle of beer at his urging, but around midnight she told him she was going to bed.

She told him, “The anniversary is over, you’ve messed with my head, I’m going to bed. Leave me the hell alone. I’m going to wear my pajamas.”

She explained that she always told someone in the family when she took a sleeping pill. And she said that within 20 minutes she was in bed in her pajamas and asleep.

“I remember waking up with a weight on my chest. I was dazed. It took me a while to realize what was happening – (defendant’s first name) was having sex with me. His penis was in my vagina. He had undressed me while I was sleeping… I pushed him away,” the plaintiff testified.