Alleged IRA man pleads not guilty to rape charges

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

An alleged IRA man has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to charges of sexually assaulting and anally raping two boys in Co Louth on dates in the early 1990s and in 2001. The proceedings were reported on 20 March 2019.

On the second day of the trial, one complainant told the jury he was threatened with being “found on a border road” if he spoke about the alleged rape.

Earlier in the trial, the first complainant rejected a suggestion from John Fitzgerald SC, defending, that he had been in a relationship with the accused and had engaged in consensual sexual activity with him on the night in 2001 when he alleged he was raped. The complainant was in his early 20s at that time.

The trial was continuing before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury.