Eimear Dodd
The complainant has started her evidence in the trial of a garda charged with sexual assault and false imprisonment at a Wicklow Garda station.
William Ryan (38) has pleaded not guilty to three counts of sexual assault and not guilty to one count of false imprisonment of a woman at Aughrim Garda Station, Main Street, Aughrim, Co Wicklow
It is the State's case that Mr Ryan prevented the complainant from leaving Aughrim Garda Station and sexually assaulted her three times. The woman had gone to the garda station for advice about retrieving her son's car, which had been seized by gardaí the previous day in Co Carlow.
Mr Ryan denies the allegations.
In her direct evidence on Thursday morning, the woman said she knew Mr Ryan as the “local guard” and that the station was not open all the time and that there “might not be someone in it for days”.
She said her son had gone for a drive on the evening of September 28th and his car was confiscated by gardaí in Co Carlow as he was not accompanied by a fully licenced driver. She said she got a call from her son around midnight then drove to Carlow to collect him.
She said she was worried and didn't know what to do, so she contacted Mr Ryan by text the next morning to see if he was working.
Mr Ryan rang her and she explained the situation, asking if someone else could collect the impounded car. She said Mr Ryan told her he would be at t he Garda station around 9.45am, then he would have a shower and she could call in about 10.15am.
She suggested he come to her home instead as her son was there and she was unwell and had “been testing for Covid” but had a sinus infection.
She said he insisted she come to the station. She said the conversation lasted around five or 10 minutes.
“Before he hung up, he said 'wear something tight', and I said 'what?' He said 'bye' and hung up the phone.”
The woman said she wondered “why would you ask something like that”, but was worried for her son and wanted to get thing sorted. “I was going to wear what I was going to wear”.
She said she arrived at Aughrim Garda Station around 10.10am and went towards the front door, but Mr Ryan came out of a side door and invited her inside.
She told Maurice Coffey SC, prosecuting, that she'd only entered the station using the front door up to this point, if she went to get documents signed or for advice.
She said Mr Ryan was in uniform, wearing a shirt, tie and his slacks. She followed him inside, then went with him into the public office where they sat down. She explained the situation and asked for advice on the process for getting the impounded car returned.
When asked by Mr Coffey about Mr Ryan's demeanour, she said it was “fine, he was friendly, he was doing his job”.
She heard Mr Ryan made a phone call about this and when finished, he asked her to stand up and “go over there”. She said she thought he wanted her to get something.
“When I stood up and walked over, he made a comment like ‘nice arse’”, she said. “I found it a bit disturbing, why would you say something like that?”.
She sat down again and he returned documents to her. She said she thanked him, then got up to leave. He told her “Oh, you don’t have to go yet”.
She said he slapped and grabbed her buttocks. She said she felt “horrified”.
“I said 'excuse me' in a sarcastic way” and reminded him to keep his distance as it was during Covid.
She said he left the public office ahead of her and was standing in the hall. She said she told him again she had to go and he replied “don't go yet”.
The woman said the hall is small and Mr Ryan is a “big man”. “I couldn't get by him”.
She said he told her “it's hard”, which she understood to mean his penis. She said she replied “that's nothing to do with me... that's none of my business. I didn't need to know that”.
She continued that Mr Ryan said he'd done her a favour and it was time for her to repay this. “I was like 'oh shit, this is not right' so I was scared, shocked. I‘d never been in that position before”.
She said Mr Ryan then invited her upstairs. She said she told him she didn't want to go and wanted to leave.
The trial continues before Judge Elma Sheahan and the jury.
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