Northern Ireland

Rugby rape trial: Tense exchange as woman gives evidence for seventh day

Blane McIlroy, who denies a charge of exposure, arrives at Belfast Crown Court as the trial enters its third week. Picture by Pacemaker
Blane McIlroy, who denies a charge of exposure, arrives at Belfast Crown Court as the trial enters its third week. Picture by Pacemaker Blane McIlroy, who denies a charge of exposure, arrives at Belfast Crown Court as the trial enters its third week. Picture by Pacemaker

A woman who claimed she was raped by Ireland and Ulster rugby players Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding yesterday denied suggestions she had "sex with a number of men after going to their home without an invitation".

As the trial at Belfast Crown Court entered its third week, there was a tense exchange between the woman at the centre of the case and a barrister representing a man accused of exposure.

Both Mr Jackson (25), of Oakleigh Park in Belfast, and Mr Olding (24), of Ardenlee Street in the city, have been charged with rape, while Mr Jackson is facing a further charge of sexual assault. They deny all the charges.

A third man - Blane McIlroy (26), from Royal Lodge Road in Belfast - denies exposing himself during the same incident.

Rory Harrison (25), from Manse Road in Belfast, also denies perverting the course of justice and withholding information.

The alleged victim, who was spending a seventh day in the witness box yesterday, was cross-examined by Mr McIlroy's barrister Arthur Harvey, who suggested that rather than rape, she engaged in consensual sex.

Suggesting her memory was "clouded by drink or an unwillingness to acknowledge what happened", he accused her of "moving from truth to untruth, or falsehood and self-delusion".

The 21-year-old claimed Mr Jackson and then Mr Olding subjected her to a serious sexual assault in the bedroom of Mr Jackson's home in the early hours of June 28 2016 after a night out at Ollie's nightclub in the city centre.

She also alleged that after being raped by the teammates, Mr McIlroy walked naked into the bedroom.

Mr Harvey suggested that her memory of the evening - including a consensual kiss with Jackson and the "alleged rape" - was "fractured".

When it was put to her: "Your memory is frayed and ragged throughout this whole incident, from the beginning of the evening to the end of the evening, isn't that right?", she said: "I wouldn't use the words fractured or frayed, but yes, they are slightly hazy.

"There are moments that I can't remember. No-one remembers exact moments from a night out. You can't be expected to remember each thing you have done."

When she was asked about getting a taxi outside Ollie's, and how exactly she ended up at Mr Jackson's home, she again accepted she couldn't remember everything - but said she believed she was invited back by three girls.

Telling the woman that the girls didn't invite her back, Mr Harvey said: "I suggest you have the capacity to start off with a basic fact such as 'I was in the taxi' to create a narrative which you believe personally serves the case you are seeking to make."

The jury has already heard that the woman, who was 19 at the time and is giving evidence from behind a curtain, had a consensual kiss with Mr Jackson in his bedroom before going back downstairs to the party.

She said a short time later she went upstairs to retrieve her bag - and that's when she was raped.

Mr Harvey also questioned the woman about texts she sent to her friends in the aftermath of the alleged rape.

In one, she told a friend that the three girls at the party were displaying slutty behaviour.

She has given evidence that she felt the "mood shifted" at the party when Mr McIlroy started pulling the girls onto his knee and taking selfies.

When she told Mr Harvey that sitting on boys' knees and taking selfies was "not something I was interested in", he asked her: "Being upstairs in a bedroom indicates behaviour which is more proper than three girls taking selfies - is that what you are saying?"

She replied: "Those are not my words, they are yours."

When the barrister asked again "Is that what you are saying?", she responded: "I am saying I didn't want to take photographs sitting on those guys' knees."

Mr Harvey then said "Those photographs are of three girls saying 'look at me', it's nothing more than that, isn't that right?", to which she replied "Yes."

As the cross-examination continued, the lawyer asked her about what she told both medics and police about Mr McIlroy's behaviour in the bedroom.

The woman said he appeared in the doorway, naked and holding his penis, and at this point she got off the bed, pushed past him and fled.

When Mr Harvey presented a very different version of events to her, in which she instigated sexual activity with Mr McIlroy and performed oral sex on him "for a short period", she replied: "None of that ever happened. I don't know why your client is stating that it did."

And when the barrister said at one point Mr McIlroy left the room to look for condoms, she answered: "None of that happened. Mr Harvey, I was raped. This is a rape case. If Mr McIlroy had touched me I think I would have made that abundantly clear to police."

Regarding the alleged sex attack - which occurred when three girls were partying downstairs - the woman reiterated her claim that she didn't call out for help as she "froze".

Earlier in her cross-examination, Mr Harvey asked why, when she was recalling what happened to her, she used the term "you" instead of "I", to which she said: "I am trying to make it applicable to everyone."

In a tense exchange, Mr Harvey asked her: "If you called out for help or assistance, it would have been heard by the three girls downstairs."

As she started to reply by saying "that's not how you react when you have been raped", the barrister interrupted and said she was using the term "you" instead of "I" again.

At this point, she said: "Mr Harvey, I am not going to argue with you about grammar. You are not going to put words in my mouth, thank you very much."