The housemate of a woman who was allegedly raped and sexually assaulted by three men she met at a nightclub has told their trial that she had no concerns for her friend’s safety at the time she left the club.
The three men, aged between 34 and 42, with addresses in Dublin and Wicklow, have pleaded not guilty to a total of seven counts of rape, oral rape and sexual assault of the woman at an unknown location in a car and in a Dublin house on August 31st, 2019.
The men cannot be named for legal reasons. They deny any wrongdoing and say any sexual contact with the woman was consensual.
On Friday, the woman’s housemate told Karl Finnegan, SC, prosecuting, that they went for drinks on the evening of August 30th before going to a nightclub.
She recalled that the nightclub was busy, and they danced in the vicinity of others but not with them.
The witness said she told the complainant she was going to leave, and her friend said she would stay. She then went home.
She said the complainant called her the next morning and told her, “I think I’ve been raped”.
The witness said her friend got a taxi to the house they shared and was wearing a jacket that wasn’t hers when she arrived.
She said the complainant was initially hesitant but then told her what had happened, saying there were three or four men. The complainant told her she was in a car and a man was having sex with her.
Her friend told her she wanted to fight back but couldn’t feel her body move. The car stopped, and someone different got in.
The witness said the woman told her they had sex with her in the car, and she was later taken to a house where they raped her again.
She said her friend told her that she tried to kick one away while in the bedroom, and they said, “You f**king b***h” and another said, “Oh, she’s coming too”.
She said the complainant agreed to her suggestion to ring the Rape Crisis Centre, and she later accompanied her to the Garda station and to the sexual assault treatment unit.
The witness agreed with Padraig Dwyer SC, for the first man, that she told gardaí there were men nearby in the nightclub, but she has no specific memory of speaking to them.
She accepted Mr Dwyer’s suggestion that she had no concerns for her friend’s safety when she left the nightclub.
She agreed with Garret Baker SC, for the second man, that her friend told her the comment “you f**king b***h” related to alleged events at the house.
The witness told Seamus Clarke, SC, that she couldn’t recall how long she stayed in the nightclub.
Earlier today, the complainant was cross-examined by Mr Clarke, representing the third man, and said she has no “real memory” of meeting the three accused men at the nightclub or going to a vehicle afterwards with them.
This man, aged 34 with an address in Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to orally raping the woman in the house and sexually assaulting her in the car.
The complainant accepted Mr Clarke’s suggestion that CCTV from the club appears to show her talking to others and that a different man may possibly have handed her a drink.
She said she was the only person who held this drink, but she wasn’t “keeping an eye on it”.
She said she has no memory of any conversation in the vehicle from the early stages of the journey.
Mr Clarke outlined his client’s position is that he suggested going to his home, but when he went inside, his mother was asleep downstairs.
The woman said she has no memory of the car stopping at this location or of remaining in the vehicle with the other two accused.
She said she had no memory of this man returning to the vehicle.
Mr Clarke put his client’s account of the night to her. This man says the woman and the first man kissed. The first man then performed oral sex on her.
Counsel submitted that the only sexual contact she had with his client in the vehicle was kissing and asked if she recalled this. The woman said she didn’t.
Mr Clarke said his client states he moved towards the wheel arch while the other two men and the woman were engaged in sexual activity.
The woman agreed with counsel that she couldn’t say where his client was in the vehicle.
When asked if she remembered the third man suggesting the car should be moved from outside his home, the woman said she recalled the car stopping somewhere and then moving but couldn’t say where.
Mr Clarke submitted to the woman that she remained in the car with his client when it arrived at the house of the first man, where they took some cocaine. She said she told gardaí she remembered white powder in the club but not afterwards and couldn’t recall if she consumed any.
Counsel said his client’s account of the sexual activity in the house is that he witnessed the woman and the second man have sex. His client said the woman performed oral sex on the first man, then on him. The woman said she had no memory of this.
She said she had no recollection of the second and third men leaving the house.
Mr Clarke put it to her that his client’s position is that he kissed her in the car, and then she performed oral sex on him in the house. Counsel said his client believed this engagement to be consensual and wasn’t aware the woman’s level of intoxication meant she was incapable of giving consent.
The woman said she couldn’t differentiate between the men and is unable to say who is who.
The first man, aged 39 with an address in Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to one count of raping the woman in his home address and not guilty to one count of oral rape and one count of sexually assaulting her in a car.
The second man, aged 42 with an address in Wicklow, has pleaded not guilty to one count of raping the woman in the car and one count of raping her in the house.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Burns and the jury.
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