Two men convicted of raping and sexually assaulting young woman in hotel car park

Eimear Dodd

A Central Criminal Court jury has convicted two men of raping and sexually assaulting a young woman in a hotel car park seven years ago.

The first defendant (25) pleaded not guilty to rape, oral rape, and two counts of sexual assault. The second defendant (24) pleaded not guilty to rape and oral rape.

It was the State's case that the then 17-year-old girl was raped in turn by the men in a car at a hotel car park after going for a drive with them. The two defendants, who were aged 17 and 18 at the time, denied any wrongdoing.

The incident took place in a hotel car park in Leinster in December 2017.

It was the second trial in the case, after the jury in the first trial, which ran for six weeks in 2023, was unable to agree on any verdicts.

The jury returned verdicts following seven-and-a-half hours of deliberations on Wednesday.

The 25-year-old man was convicted of all charges against him, while the 24-year-old man was convicted of the charge of oral rape. The jury indicated it was not in a position to reach a verdict in relation to the charge of rape against the 24-year-old man.

Both men broke down in tears as the verdicts were read out.

They were remanded in custody pending sentence on April 22nd, and a victim impact report was ordered for that date.

Ms Justice Eileen Creedon thanked the jury for their time in the case.