A YOUNG WOMAN has told a court she was “severely beaten” while allegedly falsely imprisoned in a man’s basement in Waterford city.

She alleged she was threatened with having her fingers cut off and was not allowed to leave the house after going there to buy weed, according to evidence given before a Circuit Criminal Court jury this afternoon.

Tammy Dowdall, 25, from Cappoquin, Co Waterford, broke down a number of times during cross-examination.

Vytautas Siaulys, with an address provided at Thomas Street, Waterford, pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault causing harm under Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Act at a house on Henrietta Street, Waterford, on 23-24 June 2019. He also pleaded not guilty to false imprisonment.

Dowdall had been drinking with a friend in Ballybricken when she decided to buy weed, after she was told her that a man living at Henrietta Street could sell it her.

However, she alleged this turned south and said she was trapped in his basement and “beaten for hours”, receiving blows mainly to her legs and some to her head. They did not know each other previously.

Cross-examination

During cross-examination by Paddy McCarthy SC, Dowdall said she felt she could not escape from the house as she was “terrified” and feared for her life. 

When she confirmed she had her phone on her at all times, he asked why didn’t she ring the gardaí to alert them.

“How could I escape? If I tried to escape he would have beat me more.”

McCarthy questioned why, when Dowdall left the house and made it back to her step-father’s home in Tramore, it took her two hours to ring the gardaí.

She said this was because she was “in shock” and felt “disgusted” with herself in the aftermath.

The young woman broke down several times during the cross-examination.

“He [the defendant] ruined my life,” she added.

Judge Eugene O’Kelly stopped the cross-examination to provide a break for Dowdall.

When she returned, she repeated that she was scared for her life and could not escape as her legs were injured.

She had been brought to University Hospital Waterford by ambulance. The defence were critical that no medical records have been provided for the case.

Mistaken identity

The defence contends that Dowdall misidentified the defendant and that the house was actually kept by a man named Victor.

The court heard that Siaulys, who required an interpreter, came to Ireland weeks prior to the incident, with very little English and had been living in a tent beside the Tower Hotel up the road from Henrietta Street.

Dowdall rejected this. She alleged that the man who assaulted and falsely imprisoned her was Vytautas Siaulys.

He was called Victor by people who knew him, she said.

The trial continues.

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