A man who claimed his 65-year-old mother consented to having sex with him on Mother’s Day has been found guilty of raping her.

The 45-year-old Dublin man had pleaded no guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping the woman (65) at her home between March 2nd and 3rd, 2008.

The jury of four men and eight women took just over four hours of deliberations across two days to return a verdict of guilty.

During three days of evidence the court heard that the accused admitted having sex with his mother on the evening of Mother’s Day but claimed it was consensual and that one thing had “led to another”.

The court heard the woman, who lives alone, was awaiting surgery. She was taking a number of medications, including a strong opiate painkiller, a sleeping tablet and a strong benzodiazapam.

On Mother’s Day, she had attended a local social event during the day during which she drank three “small bottles” of wine and ate a four course meal.

The woman said she left the event at around 8pm and went home, took a sleeping tablet and went to bed with a book. She said she was still reading at about 11pm when her son rang the doorbell.

She said he was very persistent and asked her to come downstairs to have a drink with her because it was still Mother’s Day.

She told Gerard Clarke SC, prosecuting, that her son found some vodka and poured drinks. They were talking and then he put on a Joe Dolan CD. She said her son asked her to dance and she did but then sat down again.

The victim said she must have blacked out then because she doesn’t know how she ended up on the floor with her son on top of her and having sex with her.

She said: “When I realised what was happening I said leave me alone. I kept saying leave me alone”.

She said afterwards she thought he was going to do it again.

She said she wanted him to get out of the house and when he left she was unable to lift herself up off the floor because of her hip problems.

Defence counsel Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC put it to the woman that the combination of alcohol, medication and a “very complicated history between you and (the accused)” caused confusion in her mind.

Her son told the court he had gone to her house that evening to borrow money but they had a drink together and she began dancing. He claimed she told him she loved him and began kissing him on the mouth.

He claimed the kissing became more intense and serious and they were both touching each other. He claimed his mother continued to kiss him while he had sex with her on the floor of her living room.

He said they both laughed when she couldn’t get up off the floor afterwards. He said he tried to help her up but she wanted to stay there and he had to leave.

Mr Justice Barry White said it was not often a jury had to encounter a trial as “distasteful and sordid” as this one and excused the jurors from further service for life.

He remanded the man in continuing custody for sentencing on October 1st and ordered that he be registered as a sex offender.

He also ordered that a victim impact report be made available to the court.