One of the four men accused of raping a teenage girl in a car told gardaí that “what happened in his car he did not want to happen to anyone else” and that he wanted the girl to forgive him.
The four men, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have all pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping the then 17-year-old girl at a location in the midlands on December 27, 2016.
The first accused (22) has also pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault and one count of false imprisonment. The second accused (24) has also pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault, one count of oral rape and one count of false imprisonment.
The third accused (24) has also pleaded not guilty to an additional count of rape, two counts of sexual assault and one count of false imprisonment. The fourth accused (23) has also pleaded not guilty to three counts of sexual assault.
All of the offending is alleged to have been committed at various locations in the midlands on the same date against the same woman when the accused were aged between 17 and 19.
It is the prosecution case that the complainant got into a car with the men in the early hours of the morning and was driven to a location where the four accused and a fifth man not before the courts raped her “one after another”.
Before the jury on Wednesday, Lorcan Staines SC, prosecuting, read out memos of interviews of the first accused by gardaí regarding the alleged events.
The jury has previously heard that during an interview, gardaí asked the first accused if he deleted anything. He answered that he deleted messages about the complainant's passport being left behind which she did not respond to. He said he deleted them and blocked her on Facebook.
The first accused said he deleted this stuff because he was scared. He said he was scared because maybe she thought he stole her passport and the gardaí might come after him, and also because of what happened on the night in the car.
Today the jury heard the remainder of this interview of the first accused by gardaí.
Gardaí asked the first accused what about what happened in the car that night was he scared about. He answered because of having sex in car with various persons.
When asked if he thought it was wrong, he answered yes. When asked why, the first accused said “because five guys and one girl”.
When asked what was wrong with that, the first accused replied that she did not say yes, she did not say no. He said that every time one finished, another would go in to the car and have sex, saying “every time one came out another went in”.
Gardaí asked the first accused why he did not have sex with her. He answered that he “didn't have the guts”. When asked what he meant, he said he “didn't dare”, that all he did was touch her side from breast to belly to legs, but he did not dare have sex with her.
Gardaí asked the first accused who took videos and where the videos have gone. He answered that he did not know anything about videos.
Later in the interview he said he “did a video”. He said the video showed the fourth accused with the complainant and that this accused later came to his house and told him to delete it. He said this video was on Snapchat rather than his phone's camera.
Gardaí asked the first accused if he wanted to say anything to the complainant. He said wanted to ask her to forgive him and that what happened in his car he did not want to happen to anyone else.
The trial continues before Justice Tara Burns and a jury.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800 77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/, or visit Rape Crisis Help.
In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.
