A Westmeath chef has been convicted of raping a young woman after telling her he was gay and inviting her back to his apartment.

Samir Mansour (48) with a current address at The Lock, Market Point in Mullingar attacked the woman on January 8th in 2010.

It took the jury just over six hours to convict him.

This was a re-trial which had been ordered by the Court of Criminal Appeal last year after finding that questions asked by a previous jury had rendered the previous guilty outcome unsafe.

The woman gave evidence that she met Mr. Mansour at a nightclub, told him she was gay, and that he replied that he too was gay before inviting her back to his apartment for a party.

Mansour made her an omelette with a television on in the background showing half-naked women.

It was then he told her that his friends were not coming, and that 'all gay people have sex together'.

She said when she tried to leave he went from quiet to terrifying - he grabbed her, forced her into a bedroom and raped her, before apologising and asking if they could still be friends.

She declined a lift home and raised the alarm on leaving his apartment.

He will be sentenced next Monday.