Cork trial of two boys accused of raping girl hears evidence from complainant's friends

Defendants — now aged 15 and 17 — are charged with raping and sexually assaulting the teenager at a St Stephen’s Day race meeting in Limerick

The trial continues at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of nine women and three men. File picture: Dan Linehan

WARNING: Some readers may find the following report upsetting

A teenager who says that she was raped by two teeangers in the back of a car on an afternoon at Limerick Racecourse cried as she told friends that day: “They wouldn’t stop, I kept saying no.” 

A number of friends of the complainant gave evidence to Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of nine women and three men at the Central Criminal Court in Cork, where two teenagers — aged 13 and 15 at the time — are on trial for raping and sexually assaulting the then 16-year-old.

Friends of the complainant described meeting in one girl’s home that morning in Limerick to get dressed up and put on make-up, and some of them had drinks before getting taxis to the St Stephen’s Day 2023 race meeting. 

They also described an incident later in the afternoon when their friend was crying and visibly upset about something.

'She was screaming she wanted to die'

One witness said: “She could not get out full sentences, just spatters of words. She kept talking about the car, the car, repeating herself, saying, ‘the fucking (surname), I had sex with the fucking (surname)… They wouldn’t stop. I kept saying no.’ It was never, ‘he’, always, ‘they’.

“She was angry. She was hitting things, screaming she wanted to die, she wanted to kill herself.” 

At one stage during her evidence this witness cried and needed a break when describing her friend saying she wanted to kill herself.

Later she said her friend was embarrassed and even mortified and didn’t want her friends to worry about her. She said the complainant is a very funny person and later that evening, so as not to worry them, she made jokes to make light of matters, saying: “OK, I lost my virginity tonight, I have battle scars.” 

Friend's evidence

Another friend described the complainant’s upset at the racecourse that afternoon when she cried and blamed herself, saying, “It’s my fault.” 

“She told me there were three of them and that two of them took out their penises and she had sex with two of them and that they left marks on her chest,” this witness said, later describing the marks as bite marks or hickeys.

One friend hugged the complainant when she was crying and very upset at the racecourse. Today, she recalled the complainant saying: “I’m such a slut.” She began spitting. Later in a bathroom at the racecourse she was also repeatedly spitting into a sink, the witness said.

A witness agreed that there was a huge crowd at the races that day. She said that when the complainant left her at one stage in the afternoon to go to the bathroom she arranged to ring her after five minutes so that they wouldn’t get separated. However, she said that the complainant did not return after five minutes and did not answer her phone despite multiple calls.

She said that later, when she did see the complainant, she had never before seen her in the condition she was in — angry and crying and saying she wanted to kill herself.

The trial will resume on Tuesday, March 18.

The two defendants are both charged with raping and sexually assaulting the then 16-year-old girl. A third boy is accused of aiding and abetting the first two defendants in carrying out these offences and he is also charged with falsely imprisoning the girl. All three pleaded not guilty to all charges against them.

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