A 30-year-old man, who claims he only found out the true age of a schoolgirl just before she was collected from his mother's home in the early hours of the morning, has gone on trial accused of raping and sexually abusing her.
Thomas Reynolds, now with an address in Co Down, denies a total of eight charges, including two of raping the then 14-year-old, between May 23 and 26, 2017.
Prosecuting QC Richard Weir told Belfast Crown Court that Reynolds was a passenger in a BMW car which picked the girl and her older friend up after stopping and chatting to them and another girl.
The Belfast court also heard that as the car drove around, the girl was given cocaine to snort and WKD to drink, although the girl claimed she told Reynolds and the others, she was only 14, when the subject of 'age' came up, although it was said she was supposed to say she was older, 17.
Trial Judge Geoffrey Miller QC heard that Reynolds, who had been allegedly kissing the girl, first sexually abused her in the back of the BMW when it stopped at an apartment block on the Lisburn Road.
The car was then driven to a forest area in Moira, where she was allegedly raped.
Mr Weir also told the court that Reynolds and the girl were then dropped off at his mother's home, where she was again sexually assaulted and raped despite her "yelling and crying for her mother".
Later in the early hours, following a call to her mobile phone, her mother collected her from the house before a report was made to police.
The lawyer said that during his police interviews Reynolds maintained that any sexual contact was consensual and that he believed she was aged over 16. He said that he "thought she looked 19 or 20, and when asked said she was 20".
However, he also told police it was only after the early morning call before her mother came to collect her that the girl "revealed her age".
The trial continues.
