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The Inside Story of an Acquittal Beyond a Reasonable Doubt a Special Report by Francesca Comyn

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The Inside Story of an Acquittal Beyond a Reasonable Doubt a Special Report by Francesca Comyn TheSunday Business Post April 1, 2018 businesspost.ie Elon Musk Tesla in need of some speed Post Plus page 6 ● MONEY ● MARKETS ● MOTORS Elaine Byrne Susan O’Keeffe Michael O’Higgins Like it or not, we must Case revealed a shocking Why it was unfair to vilify respect the verdict p4 attitude towards women p4 Rory Best for turning up p9 The inside story of an acquittal Beyond a reasonable doubt A special report by Francesca Comyn f proof beyond a reasonable doubt is the cornerstone of securing a criminal conviction, fostering doubt is the lifeblood of a good criminal defence strategy. Doubt wrenches a hole in the prosecution evidence. Doubt causes a hesitation, a Icreeping sense of unease. It lodges a niggling concern in the mind of a juror that to convict would be wrong. to page 2 30 DAY FREE TRIAL Invoicing VAT Bank Payments SIMPLE ONLINE ACCOUNTING Reports Mobile App Run a more profitable business using big red cloud CALL US TODAY: 01 204 8300 DESIGNED FOR THE IRISH TAX SYSTEM bigredcloud.com The Sunday Business Post April 1, 2018 2 The rugby rape trial Post Plus The woman has a lasting entitlement not to be identified. But her name began to proliferate on ‘‘social media, in breach of her rights. Photographs purporting to be her were recklessly shared online from page 1 amination. Judge Patricia Smyth made sure in great distress after a sleepless night tossing Last Wednesday, Ireland rugby stars Paddy there were frequent breaks. and turning. She said she had not made up her Jackson and Stuart Olding were acquitted of In her evidence for the prosecution, the mind about going to the police at this point, raping a young woman at a house party in the court heard that the then 19-year-old Belfast and she didn’t know whether oral sex or digital early hours of June 28, 2016. woman had gone out to celebrate the end of sex could even amount to rape. They emerged from Belfast Crown Court to her A-level resits with friends on Monday, While initially the woman claimed that face uncertain futures after a gruelling 42-day June 27, 2016. Olding had intercourse with her, the court trial in the lurid glare of the media. Noth- She told Toby Hedworth QC that she ended heard a charge of vaginal rape was’’ withdrawn ing in their sporting careers could have pre- up in the VIP area of Ollie’s nightclub. After- by the Crown prosecution late last year. By pared them for the onslaught of the past nine The last thing wards, she went to a party in Paddy Jackson’s I would have her own account she was face-down on the weeks. house. bed and could not say for certain if he had Their co-accuseds, Blane McIlroy and Rory She didn’t really know the crowd going back. actually had sex with her. This fact emerged Harrison, walked free on lesser charges. McIl- I want is a There were four women including herself, and been pretty under cross-examination by Olding’s barrister, roy was acquitted of exposing himself; Har- the four male rugby players. She said she had Frank O’Donoghue. rison of perverting the course of justice and girl crying expected others to join them. drunk, but She said she was 100 per cent certain that withholding information. While she was hazy about the details, she Jackson had had sex with her, a claim he vig- While Jackson was greeted outside with agreed at some point she wound up consen- orously denied. He agreed that he had used his cheers and honking car horns, the fact that a and leaving sually kissing Jackson in an upstairs bedroom. still coherent . fingers to penetrate the woman, but insisted couple of thousand people attended rallies in The court heard he tried to undo her trousers it was with consent. Belfast, Cork and Dublin under the “I believe my house. I but, when she rejected his advances, they . Everything Jackson’s assertion was complicated by the her” banner showed just how divisive the went back downstairs. evidence of another partygoer, Dara Florence, trial had been. She took a gut dislike to McIlroy who was who walked in on them in the bedroom by At the very least, it had thrown an unedifying would’ve been having pictures of himself taken with the other that happened mistake. Kelly made much of the fact that the spotlight on a toxic laddish culture within Irish female partygoers sitting on his knee. She said woman failed to mention the existence of this rugby, where bragging blokes referred to wom- completely the mood of the party had shifted and she that night crucial eyewitness in her first account to the en as “sluts” and “brasses” to be “pumped” decided to go home. police, which she gave in tears two days after and “spit roasted”. When she went back up to the bedroom the alleged rape. The jury returned unanimous not guilty freaked out to look for her bag, she claimed that Jackson was entirely The evidence of Florence, the only partygo- verdicts in under four hours. The speed of the followed her upstairs, pushed her onto the er who was not drinking, had elements of a delivery belied the difficulty of the task, but Paddy Jackson bed, pulled her trousers down and raped her consensual poisoned chalice for both the prosecution and also strongly suggested that, as far as the 11 face-down. She said he was strong and she the defence. By her account, she saw Jackson jurors were concerned, the prosecution case couldn’t move. She was frozen, she said it was having intercourse with the woman, which fell well short of the mark. almost like an out of body experience. Stuart Olding he denied, but, , to her it looked consensual. In the soup of alcohol, hazy memories and She claimed that when Olding entered the In her testimony to the jury later in the trial, clashing evidence served up in Court 12, doubt room, she said to Jackson: “Paddy, please no, Florence said she had laughed with a friend went to the very heart of the issue. not him as well.” She claimed Olding forced about seing a threesome. Jackson even invited her to perform oral sex on him and, at one her to join in with them, but she turned down point, ordered her to take her top off. his offer. By her account, after the intercourse Jackson Because Florence and the other partygoers Cavalier tried to put his whole hand inside her. She said had been taking photos and posting Snapchat she was in pain, and when she started to bleed, stories earlier in the night, the complainant disregard one of the men began to laugh. said she turned her face away from the door “RAPE IS A GAME OF POWER AND CONTROL, She said her instincts to flee only kicked in when Florence entered, “mortified” in case she and they rely on your silence,” the woman, when McIlroy appeared at the door completely would be identified or photographed. who was 19 at the time of the incident and is naked, holding his penis in his hands. She put What it boiled down to, Kelly put it to the now aged 21 and in third-level education, told on her trousers and ran from the room with witness, was that she had engaged in group the jury in her evidence for the prosecution her underwear shoved into her pocket. sex in an intoxicated and excited state, but in week one of the trial. As she pushed her way past McIlroy, he was petrified that either the rumour or proof Reporting it to the police was a way of pos- allegedly said: “You fucked the other guys, of this sexual activity would find its way to sibly preventing it from happening to someone why not me?” The court heard she replied: her friends. “That’s what drove you on as far else. “It was the best decision I ever made,” “How many times does a girl have to say no as running with this lie, is it not?” he asked. she added. for it to sink in?” She replied: “No, this is not a lie, Mr Kelly.” Bravely, perhaps, it is a decision she stands The jury heard that, having fled from the by post-conviction, according to the PSNI. house, the woman realised she had left her As a rape complainant, the law classified phone behind and had to return to the bed- her as a vulnerable witness entitled to cer- room to get it so she could call a taxi. Strained tain protections. That meant she testified Leaving a second time, she said that Rory from behind a blue curtain so she did not Harrison followed her out and offered to share emotions in the have to look at the four accused men sitting a taxi home with her. in the large glass dock towards the rear of Harrison did “absolutely nothing wrong”, public gallery the court. she later told police. “He didn’t touch me. I AT TIMES DURING THE WOMAN’S The men’s families, members of the media was crying. I can’t remember what I said to cross-examination, a febrile atmosphere and the daily crowds of onlookers who sat in him, I was so upset.” took hold in the public gallery as some of the the soundproofed public gallery were also out She recalled Harrison walking her to the younger relatives and friends of Jackson and of her line of vision.
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