By Dylan O'Sulliavan-
Ulster and Ireland rugby players Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding were sensationally found not guilty of raping a female student at a house party two years ago. Jackson was also found not guilty of sexual assault.
The jury of eight men and three women took three hours and 45 minutes before returning unanimous not guilty verdicts to all charges. Two other defendants in the same case were also found not guilty on all charges. Blane McIlroy has been found not guilty of exposure, and Rory Harrison has been found not guilty of withholding information and perverting the course of justice.
The verdict ends 9 weeks of the high profile trial in which both Jackson, 26, from Belfast and Ulster teammate Olding, 25, also from Belfast, denied raping the same 19-year-old woman after a night out in June 2016. The defendants
The defense had rested their case all along on the notion that the rape allegation was false, and reflected the alleged victim’s regret in consenting to group sex. The theoretical argument used was that she feared she may have been filmed, and the images may eventually have been posted on social media.
The prosecution asserted the view that Jackson allegedly pushed the woman down on his bed and vaginally raped and digitally penetrated her. Olding then allegedly walked into the room where the woman was forced to perform a sex act on him. It was alleged that McIlroy then entered the room, naked and holding his penis, with the woman then running out of the room.
The prosecution then alleged that Harrison “tried to cover up or manage” the woman, and took her home in a taxi. This rape trial was never going to be predictable, especially with no hard evidence to the support the victim’s claim. At no point in her testimony to police did she claim to have raised the alarm during the period of the alleged rape, she had no witness. However, the defendants were not always convincing under cross examination. Their admission to have been quite drunk during the sexual encounter they insist was consensual did not sound good for them.
HEALTH CLINIC
The fact that in the hours after the alleged incident, the woman attended a sexual health clinic, and also a sexual assault referral center would support the cynical theory that she was indeed the victim of rape. She made her first statement to the police the following day. Against this argument lies the possibility the woman may have been trying to build a credible rape case by establishing tracks that would support her allegation.
Under cross-examination, Jackson insisted the alleged rape victim was one of a number of women that returned to his house after meeting the rugby players and their friends in a Belfast nightclub the day after they returned home from Ireland’s tour of South Africa.
Jackson said the woman had followed him to his bedroom on two separate occasions for consensual sexual activity. What the woman was doing in the room of an athletic young rugby player is anybody’s guess, this fact could only have played a negative role in the minds of jurors. Sharing the same space as a man in a bedroom is not an automatic invite for or consent to sex, but women who opt to accompany men they don’t know to their bedroom are not very wise if they have no intention for sexual activity. The case is over now and only the complainant and the defendant actually know for sure whether she was raped or not.
Their acquittal may not be seen as full proof of their innocence given the legal requirement for evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to establish guilt. What matters is the legal position that guarantees their innocence after a long 9-week trial in which both the prosecution and defense gave their best shot to achieve their goals. Its the Ireland Rugby players who will feel relief and continue with their sports careers without a blemish on their record.
