A Brazilian sex worker has told Tralee Circuit Criminal Court that a Kerry man became angry and pushed her onto her apartment bed after she refused to have sex or give him oral sex without a condom.
he woman was giving evidence via video-link from Brazil, in relation to three alleged incidents in a Killarney apartment in May 2020.
John Doolan of Cockhill, Kilcummin, is on trial for six charges. Three charges are for the sexual assault, assault and false imprisonment of a sex worker at her apartment in May 2020. The other charges are for the sexual assault, assault and false imprisonment of a separate woman, also a sex worker, at a Tralee apartment in March 2020.
A jury of six men and six women was sworn in on Monday, March 6, and evidence began on Tuesday, March 7. The court heard the Brazilian woman giving evidence via video link had lived in Ireland for five years and worked as an escort, advertising her services – as well as her photos and contact details – on website Escorts Ireland.
She told the court she “worked for herself”, and clients would call her.
She said she worked and lived in a Killarney apartment in May 2020. On the day in question, she received a call from a number – the number which she subsequently showed to gardaí after the alleged assaults. The first call was at 3.48pm and lasted 44 seconds.
During this call, she said a man made an arrangement to meet her at her apartment for sex. She told him she was available, and a few more phone calls took place between them before they met. On one call, she asked him to wait longer as she had to dress up for him. Mr Doolan ultimately arrived at her apartment after 4.30pm. She told the court that she did not know the man.
Under questioning by state prosecutor Barrister Tom Rice, she described the man as tall with grey hair and light skin. She said he had a strong Kerry accent.
When he entered the apartment, he went to a bedroom, and she asked him to pay her.
“He asked me for a blowjob without a condom. I said no. He angry. He asked for sex without a condom too. I said ‘nothing without a condom’. In my advertisement I say that I don’t do service without a condom. He knows that,” she told the court.
She said the agreement between them was €80 for a half-hour’s service, with a condom. She said this agreement was made on the phone.
“He didn’t want to pay,” she said. “I see him very angry with me. I say please can you pay me and he said I’ll pay you but I want sex without a condom. I said no, I tell you on the phone...If you don’t want condom, please leave.”
She said that, at this point, she was in front of him, and Mr Doolan was sitting on the bed. She was wearing lingerie and a short robe. She said she tried to walk away and he grabbed her, touched her vagina and breasts, and pushed her onto the bed.
“I pushed him away with my feet, I think he would do worse on me if I don’t run away,” she said.
“He put his hands on my arms and pushed me on [to] the bed…He said you are going to pay me.”
Under questioning from Mr Rice, she said she thought this comment suggested he would harm her.
“I think he is a kind man on the phone,” she said. “I feel abused, I was there to have sex with him, not to be abused.”
She said she ran to the door and told him that if he didn’t leave, she would scream and contact the police.
“I did not consent to him touching me in my private areas,” she said. “I said no touching, please leave.”
When questioned, she said she was able to leave the room because the door was open.
“I don’t want to do what he wanted,” she said. “I know I need to get away from this place or he has to leave. I want to leave but he take me by the arms.”
Under cross-examination by defence barrister Anthony Sammon SC instructed by Barrister Katie O’Connell, the victim said the agreement between them was for protected sex and a ‘blowjob’ with a condom.
Mr Sammon SC said that the garda statements made by John Doolan following her arrest deny her claims. Reading out extracts from the statement, he said when it was put to Mr Doolan that he grabbed her and pushed her on the bed he replied: “You’re joking, that never happened.”
He denied he touched her vagina and breast.
“That is total lies, that is not John Doolan, he doesn’t do that,” he said.
She told the court “I swear to God, he did that with me.”
Mr Doolan further denied trapping the woman, and he said he didn’t even know if he met the accuser.
The woman further claimed that Mr Doolan tried to rape her. Mr Sammon SC said this was a new allegation, one not before the court.
Under further questioning she said that if she had stayed in the bed, he was going to rape her, but she ran away.
The trial continues.
