By Dylan O'Sullivan-
Ireland Rugby rape defendant, Stuart Olding has admitted the alleged rape victim wouldn’t have stood a chance of resisting him in a rape scenario.
In a shocking response to a clever question under cross-examination by the prosecution lawyer, Toby Hedworth, the rugby star said the alleged rape victim wouldn’t have been a match for him if she had tried to resist them,
The prosecution put to Olding: “There comes a stage that night where you and Paddy Jackson are in his bedroom with that young woman.
“You are both professional rugby players. Your work is physically engaging, using not only your skill but also your strength in an attempt to overpower your opponent. What match is a [young] woman going to be for the pair of you if she is going to try to resist?”
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Olding answered: “If she had resisted in any way or didn’t want it to happen I wouldn’t have had a problem, I would not want it to happen, I wouldn’t have carried on.”
The prosecution lawyer persisted in his question by asking what match the woman would have been for the two accused if she didn’t want to engage in sexual activity.
Olding admitted: “I don’t think she would be a match.”
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When Prosecutor Toby Hedworth QC said: “That night you were not interested in what [the complainant] wanted to do or was prepared to do.
“She was, I suggest, to each of you just a vehicle for your own sexual desires that night?”
Olding responded: “I wouldn’t put it that way.” Olding and his Ulster and Ireland team-mate Paddy Jackson, 26, deny raping the same woman at a house party in south Belfast in June 201
Mr Hedworth began his cross-examination after Olding had spent almost two hours answering questions from his defense counsel Frank O’Donoghue QC.
The prosecutor put it to him: “I am asking you to consider what you did to (the woman) in the early hours of June 28 2016 and what you did you knew full well you should not have done.”
He replied: “I don’t agree with that.”
The prosecution said: “When you entered that bedroom that young woman looked at you and said to Paddy Jackson ‘please, no, not him too’.”
Olding replied: “I don’t remember any of that happening.”
Olding told the court he was “invited” to join the sexual activity by the complainant.
“I was invited in by (her) and that’s the reason I went in,” he added.
The court heard how the rugby player, who had returned from a tour of South Africa as part of the Ireland squad, had consumed eight tins of Carlsberg, four pints of Guinness, two gin and tonics, five vodkas with lemonade, five shots of Tequila or Sambuca and another beer during the course of the night.
He had also eaten pizza as well as a burger and chips.
“To put it in jargon,” the prosecution lawyer said, “it was a bit of a skin full.”
Mr Hedworth continued: “The danger if you have had far too much to drink, is the situation where people are doing things that are not only not appropriate but are downright wrong.”
Olding answered: “For some people, yes, but I was in complete control of my actions.”
The lawyer added: “If you had that amount of drink there’s a danger of disregarding the wishes or views of another person if they get in the way of what you want to achieve.”
Olding replied: “I wouldn’t agree with that.”
The trial, which is in its sixth week is being heard by a jury of eight men and three women.
Olding insisted the sexual activity had been consensual and said if he had been aware of distress he would not have continued.
The prosecution put to Olding: “There comes a stage that night where you and Paddy Jackson are in his bedroom with that young woman.
“You are both professional rugby players. Your work is physically engaging, using not only your skill but also your strength in an attempt to overpower your opponent. What match is a [young] woman going to be for the pair of you if she is going to try to resist?”
Olding answered: “If she had resisted in any way or didn’t want it to happen I wouldn’t have had a problem, I would not want it to happen, I wouldn’t have carried on.”
But pressing the point further the prosecution again asked what match the woman would have been for the two accused if she didn’t want to engage in sexual activity.
Olding answered: “I don’t think she would be a match.”
Later, Mr Hedworth rubbished Olding’s account that he had been beckoned into the bedroom.
“She just beckons you in and you take over. This is complete nonsense, isn’t it Mr Olding?”
The defendant replied: “No, it is not nonsense at all.”
has refuted suggestions he used a woman who has accused him of rape as a “vehicle” to satisfy his sexual desires.
The Irish international was giving evidence in his defense at Belfast Crown Court.
He conceded that the young woman would not have been a match for two professional rugby players but insisted the sexual activity was consensual and rejected prosecution claims that his account of the night was nonsense.
Prosecutor Toby Hedworth QC said: “That night you were not interested in what [the complainant] wanted to do or was prepared to do.
“She was, I suggest, to each of you just a vehicle for your own sexual desires that night?”
Olding, 24, who denies rape, answered: “I wouldn’t put it that way.”
Olding and his Ulster and Ireland team-mate Paddy Jackson, 26, deny raping the same woman at a house party in south Belfast in June 2016.
Jackson denies a further charge of sexual assault.
Mr Hedworth began his cross-examination after Olding had spent almost two hours answering questions from his defence counsel Frank O’Donoghue QC.
The prosecutor put it to him: “I am asking you to consider what you did to (the woman) in the early hours of June 28 2016 and what you did you knew full well you should not have done.”
He replied: “I don’t agree with that.”
The prosecution said: “When you entered that bedroom that young woman looked at you and said to Paddy Jackson ‘please, no, not him too’.”
Olding replied: “I don’t remember any of that happening.”
Olding told the court he was “invited” to join the sexual activity by the complainant.
“I was invited in by (her) and that’s the reason I went in,” he added.
The court heard how the rugby player, who had returned from a tour of South Africa as part of the Ireland squad, had consumed eight tins of Carlsberg, four pints of Guinness, two gin and tonics, five vodkas with lemonade, five shots of Tequila or Sambuca and another beer during the course of the night.
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