A JURY has begun deliberations at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin in a case against a man accused of raping a girl at a teenage disco.
The man, now 20, was 15 at the time of the alleged attack at the youth disco in Co Donegal. His alleged victim was 14.
She has already told the jury that the boy grabbed her and took her into the toilets where he raped her in a cubicle.
She reported the alleged incident to her mother seven months later. The man later told gardai he didn't remember being in the toilets on the night of the disco in December 2010. He is entitled to anonymity in the case because he was 15 at the time.
Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan told the jury that consent was a constituent legal factor in the offence of rape but that the law says a person under 15 cannot consent.
She said if the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused had sex with the complainant they must convict him of rape.
She said assault was intentional unwanted touching and sexual assault was assault where the touching was of an indecent nature.
Ms Justice Heneghan said that where a person below a certain age engaged in sexual activity it would not be consent even if the person appeared an enthusiastic participant.
She said that, additionally, a 1935 Act states that it it is not a defence to a charge of indecent assault on a person under the age of 15 years to prove that the person consented to the alleged act.
The jury will continue deliberations today.