The defendant, who is now aged 19, denied rape and related charges at the Central Criminal Court in Cork. A jury of nine men and three women has returned unanimous not guilty verdicts in the case. Picture: iStock

A 16-YEAR-OLD girl testified that she was raped by a boy of the same age when up to 50 youths were gathered for drinking by a bonfire in a remote spot on the outskirts of a Cork town.

However, the accused claimed the complainant was the one who asked him to have sex with her and that it was all consensual.

The defendant, who is now aged 19, denied rape and related charges at the Central Criminal Court in Cork. 

A jury of nine men and three women has returned unanimous not guilty verdicts in the case.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt thanked the nine men and three women for the attention they gave to the case. They took two hours and 39 minutes to reach unanimous not guilty verdicts on five charges against the accused.

He was found not guilty on two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault, and one count of oral rape.

The disputed incident occurred on the night of St Patrick’s Day 2019. The complainant said she and her friends were drinking beer and vodka and that they and others went to the secluded spot where teenagers gathered and they drank and listened to loud music. She said she was a bit drunk.

She testified that there was a rumour she had had sex on a previous occasion with another boy and it was not true. She said the defendant asked her if it was true and she said it wasn’t.

“He started to grab my arm,” she said. “He started dragging me into the ditch/bush. He pushed me to the floor and undid my pants. He pulled them down to my ankles. He pulled down his own pants — tracksuit pants… He put his penis in my vagina. He was going up and down. I was saying ‘no, stop’ as loud as I could.”

Further allegations were made that she was raped a second time and that she was also orally and anally raped on the same occasion. She said she did not consent to any of this. She also denied consenting to him touching her breasts and putting his fingers into her vagina, which constituted the allegations grounding the two charges of sexual assault.

She said she was frightened at the time. She said that very soon after it ended, she was with her friends when, she said, “I fell to the ground. I said I did not want to live anymore because of what happened to me.”

Siobhán Lankford, defending, said the accused had said that the complainant was the one who initiated it.

Ms Lankford said the complainant told the defendant she did not have sex with the boy she was rumoured to have been with and told him he was not her type but that he, the defendant, was. The complainant denied saying that.

Ms Lankford said a witness saw the defendant with his hand around the complainant’s waist before the disputed incident.

She said: “My client says there was sexual intercourse and that it was consensual.”

The complainant said: “It was not consensual.”

Ms Lankford put it to the complainant that she was the one who asked the defendant if he wanted to have sex.

“You indicated to your friends you fancied my client and you were going to get with him that night,” Ms Lankford suggested to the complainant, who replied: “No.”

Ms Lankford put it to the complainant that she did not shout out during the sexual activity with the defendant. She replied: “I did, but no one heard.”

Tom Creed, prosecuting, asked if it was consistent with consent for the complainant to cry out immediately afterwards that she had been raped. He suggested it was not consistent with the suggestion that she had consented.

A charge of anal rape was withdrawn from the jury by the prosecution during the trial. The jurors had to decide on the charges of rape by sexual intercourse, oral rape, and two counts of sexual assault. Mr Justice Hunt told the jury not to speculate on why the prosecution withdrew the anal rape charge.

Ms Lankford said to the jury that they could be thinking: “He might have done it, but that is not enough; he could have done it, not enough. He probably did it, not enough.”

Referring to the fact that he did not give evidence during the trial, Ms Lankford said the defendant was interviewed by gardaí when he was 16 and he was with his father and his solicitor, and that was his account of what happened on the night.

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