Rape accused made no comment when told his semen was found on woman's underwea

A man accused of raping a student who was allegedly too drunk to consent made no comment when told his semen was found on her underwear, his trial has heard.

The jury at the Central Criminal Court trial previously heard evidence that the defendant (29) had already told gardaí that he denies any sexual activity with the complainant.

He and a co-accused (33), both non-nationals living in Donegal, have pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape of the woman in a town in the county in February 2015. The complainant is now aged in her 20s.

The prosecution ended its case on Friday afternoon and the defence teams told the jury they did not intend to call any witnesses.

On Monday the jury of seven men and four women will hear closing speeches from prosecution and defence lawyers. Justice Alex Owens told the jurors that they will likely begin deliberations on Tuesday after he has given them his charge.

In evidence yesterday, Friday, morning the jury were told that the younger defendant was re-arrested on March 16, 2016, on foot of gardaí obtaining a report from forensic scientist Dr David Casey.

Earlier in the trial Dr Casey told the jury that he used DNA to link semen found on the complainant's underwear to the accused. He said semen found inside a condom retrieved from a bin in the flat where the alleged rapes took place also matched the accused.

Swabs taken outside of this condom showed a high concentration of DNA matching the profile of the complainant. Dr Casey said that he would expect to see this concentration if vaginal intercourse took place.

Gardaí told the accused that these findings may reasonably be attributed to his participation in the alleged rape. They told the defendant he now had an opportunity to account for this evidence and that a judge could take a failure or refusal to do so into account.

“Your failure or refusal can be used to support other evidence,” gardaí told him.

Questioned about the semen found in the underwear, the defendant said “no comment”. He made the same reply when asked to account for his semen on the condom.