Jury continue deliberations in trial centred on alleged rape of teenage girl

The jury in the Limerick racecourse teenage rape trial began their second day of deliberations today when they gathered again in their jury room at 10.35am this morning.

Mr Justice Paul McDermot welcomed the jury back and said: “I am just going to ask you to retire to continue your work.” They deliberated throughout Friday, April 4, but without reaching verdicts.

A lot time on that first day was given to listening again to the video-recording of the interview with the complainant shortly after the alleged incident.

A 13-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy are accused of raping and sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl at a Christmas race meeting in Limerick, and a third boy is accused of aiding and abetting them and falsely imprisoning the girl.

Mr Justice Paul McDermot told the eleven-person jury that there was no time constraint on them and that they should take as much time as they needed.

During the closing speeches by the prosecution and the defence lawyers and in the judge’s charge to the jury they were told that in effect they should think of the case as three trials as there are three different defendants, and that the cases are simply being held together as a matter of convenience.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott addressed the two men and nine women of the jury on legal principles pertaining to the case and also summarised evidence which they heard since the trial commenced on March 11.

One of the twelve jurors sworn in on that date became ill during the trial and was discharged from hearing the case against three teenagers.

It is alleged that the contested incidents occurred in a car in a field car park at Limerick racecourse at Patrickswell, County Limerick, on December 26 2022.

Dean Kelly, prosecution senior counsel, said the three defendants acted as a group in carrying out the offences with which they are charged. 

Defence senior counsels, Tom Creed, Vincent Heneghan and Brian McInerney, for the three defendants said the prosecution had not reached the point of proving any of the counts beyond reasonable doubt. The defence also said that by the complainant’s own account she did consent to some interaction that afternoon. They argued that while the prosecution said it was consent up to a point, it was not clear where that point was.

The disputed events in the car relate to a period of somewhere between 20 and 40 minutes, the prosecution allege.