Woman withdrew rape complaint after seeing CCTV

A woman who went to gardaí after a night out in Killarney and gave a detailed account of being raped by “a Pakistani-looking” man in a green hoodie, at the rear of the town’s courthouse, withdrew her complaint two and a half weeks later after being shown images from CCTV which depicted her in the company of an Irish man with a receding hairline whom she knew.

Jacinta O’Connor, aged 26, of Steelroe, Killorglin, Co Kerry, told gardaí she was withdrawing her complaint, and she did not want any more investigation.

At Tralee Circuit Criminal Court, Ms O’Connor has denied a charge of knowingly making a false report and for wasting garda time.

Around 4am on September 22, 2014, Ms O’Connor told gardaí she was raped by a “foreign national”.

However on October 10, 2014, midway through viewing images harvested from CCTV, Ms O’Connor’s demeanour changed, Garda Breda O’Donoghue said.

She said she knew the man but did not want to say who he was. “She said she did have sex; it was with consent and it was not with the man in the green hood,” Garda O’Donoghue said.

Ms O’Connor told of having consensual sex with a man she knew in an underground car park in Scott’s Hotel at the rear of the Fair Hill/Courthouse car park.

“When I had sex with him it was a bit rougher than I expected. So I was a bit upset and I found myself alone and no way home. And I went to the Garda station. I am really sorry for what I did and I don’t want the gardaí to do any more investigating,” she said in the statement read by Garda O’Donoghue.

Michael Ahern, aged 29, of Lake Road, Cromane, was called by the prosecution yesterday. He identified himself on CCTV stills with Ms O’Connor. He had previously had a sexual relationship with Ms O’Connor, he told Tom Rice, prosecuting. On the night in question, they went to the underground car park in Scotts and had sex. It was a mutual decision.

Cross-examined by Elizabeth Murphy, defending, Mr Ahern said the sex was not rough. “It was ordinary sex. A bit kinky, but no way violent,” Mr Ahern said.

Medical evidence by a nurse from the sexual assault treatment unit at the South Infirmary in Cork found bleeding on the left side of Ms O’Connor’s vagina and an abrasion in the genital area. There was some bruising on her back, and thigh and redness in places.

The case continues.