The warning came as closing arguments were made in the four day trial where the woman – who was 19 years old at the time – claimed she was sexually assaulted by her employer after being plied with alcohol.
She alleged she discovered the following day that the man had taken photographs of her private parts with his phone during the incident.
The woman claimed the man then refused to delete the images.
She said he insisted to her that they were just “having fun” when she suddenly got dizzy and drowsy after he gave her a drink and awoke to find herself half naked with the man giving her oral sex.
The businessman denied that the alleged incident ever happened.
He “fancied” the girl but entirely dismissed any feelings because of the disparity in their ages, she was 19 and he was in his 50s.
The man claimed there had been a consensual kiss at his business premises on a different occasion – a claim that was vehemently denied by the complainant.
“But I did not (at any time) force myself on her,” the defendant insisted.
The 67-year-old man – who cannot be named for legal reasons – has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the then-teenager.
He is charged with the sexual assault of a woman on a date unknown between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010.
The location of the alleged incident is at a business premises in Waterford.
Judge Eugene O’Kelly has ruled that nothing can be published which might identify either the complainant or the defendant.
Closing arguments to the jury of ten men and two women were made on Tuesday, the fourth day of the trial by Conor O’Doherty BL, for the State, and Colman Cody SC, for the defence.
Mr O’Doherty urged the jury to convict given the evidence.
He said a friend of the woman had confirmed she was informed of the alleged incident at the time – and had seen that the defendant had sent a message to the young woman.
The friend urged the woman to go to the gardaí but she did not, explaining to the trial that she could not cope with it at the time and did not want anyone to know what had happened.
She was also afraid of being judged and local gossip.
The woman claimed she felt taken advantage of by a man she considered to be “a father figure.”
She went to the gardaí around 12 years later after becoming incensed at a social media post by the businessman who had spoken of the importance of honesty and integrity.
Mr O’Doherty said that an exchange of private Facebook messages between the woman and the businessman should be critical to the jury deliberations.
In a series of private messages in 2021, she challenged him over “practising what you preach” – and accused him of taking advantage of her.
In one message, she wrote: “You raped me – that’s what you did. I looked up to you – but you sexually assaulted me.”
The man replied that he did not want to put his version of events in writing and stressed to the woman that he had suffered multiple serious health issues.
However, he said the woman’s message gave him “pause for reflection.”
“The suggestion that he knew nothing about this (allegation) is critically undermined by these Facebook messages,” Mr O’Doherty argued.
However, Mr Cody urged the jury to acquit his client given what he said was a total lack of evidence.
“You could not and should not convict,” he said.
Mr Cody said there was no evidence to support an allegation which his client vehemently denied.
He added that it was apparent the woman had some “ill will” and “resentment” towards his client .
Further, he noted the length of time it had taken the woman to come forward to the gardaí – by which stage none of the phones at the centre of the alleged texts and images were available for analysis by the gardaí.
Mr Cody noted that the woman claimed the businessman had asked her for sexual favours while parked in a remote area after offering her a spin home some time before the alleged sexual assault – but that she had continued to ask him for spins home and to work for him at his premises.
Despite the fact his client had been painted as “a sexual predator”, the woman had continued to ask him for lifts home and to have dealings with him.
Further, he asked the jury to consider credibility issues including what he said were discrepancies between the account offered by the woman in court and what she had told gardaí.
He said his client had met the gardaí without a solicitor when the complaint was first raised and gave them a voluntary statement.
In that statement, he said he recalled a consensual drunken kiss with the woman.
“If a man is being accused of sexually assaulting someone that he knows, isn’t it the obvious step to say nothing that would implicate you or that would taint you with impropriety?”
Mr Cody said that despite the statement about the consensual kiss not painting his client in a flattering light – the man was married and was a father – “he volunteered it.”
“(He) is not on trial for being creepy or behaving in an objectionable manner,” he said.
Mr Cody said that Irish prisons would be “full to breaking point” if every person who behaved in an objectionable way was prosecuted for it.
“He made it very clear he had never forced himself on anyone,” he insisted.
Mr Cody said that it was to his client’s credit and to the truthfulness of his account that he revealed this unflattering detail to gardaí.
The jury will resume their verdict deliberations on Wednesday having suspended their consideration after an hour and a half.
