A prosecutor in the trial of two Ulster rugby players accused of rape has insisted it was not a case of a young woman seeking to “bag a celebrity”.
Summing up on behalf of the prosecution on day 34 of the trial, Toby Hedworth QC said the case was instead “a throwback to the days of male entitlement”.
He said nightclub CCTV from the night of the alleged rapes showed the woman at the centre of the case spending most of the time talking to a doctor, rather than rugby or football players.
“So much for trying to bag a celebrity,” said Mr Hedworth.
He later added: “This isn’t someone going after celebrities.”
Paddy Jackson and fellow rugby player Stuart Olding are accused of raping the same woman in Mr Jackson’s house, in the early hours of 28 June 2016.
They were among a group of four men and four women who went back to the house after a night out at Ollie’s nightclub in Belfast.
The prosecution barrister told the 11-person jury on Thursday that to convict the accused they needed to be sure of their guilt.
“If you are sure, you must convict them,” Mr Hedworth said.
The barrister told the jury to consider what the alleged victim had said during her evidence at the start of the trial, when she made it clear she did not want to have sex.
Hr Hedworth said: “The law of this land says a young woman is allowed to say ‘no’.”
He added: “The law does not say ‘Oh well, you let me kiss you so I can force myself upon you. I, the male, shall decide how far this will go’.
“The law is not ‘if my friends fancy joining in they can do as they and I please’.”
He added: “The world has moved on. Unfortunately the behaviour of some in our society has not.
“What happened in Patrick Jackson’s bedroom in the early hours of June 28 represents, we say, a throwback to the days of male entitlement.
“We are not talking about ‘MeToo’ and gender politics. We are talking about the conduct of some males.”
Mr Hedworth told the court some men are “not interested in the views of a young woman if their passions are up and they’re full of drink”.
He added: “I’m not talking about some agenda for radical feminism. I’m talking about proper relationships you have with each other. The sort of limits of conduct any man would expect for his daughter and sister.”
Mr Hedworth pointed out that Mr Jackson told the court he had sexual activity with the woman, but not intercourse.
“Why is she so anxious to get the morning-after pill (the next day)?” asked the prosecution barrister.
Mr Hedworth insisted intercourse must have taken place.
He said the defence had portrayed the alleged victim as a “silly girl” who did something and then regretted it. The reality, he said, is that she was raped.
Mr Hedworth also pointed out that she admitted willingly kissing Mr Jackson earlier in the evening.
He said that if her account of the evening was a “pack of lies” it posed the question “why would she say the initial activity was completely consensual?”
The prosecution accepted that there were “differences” and “inconsistencies” between what the alleged victim told a doctor and what she later told the police.
‘Fear, anxiety’
Mr Hedworth said complainants in this type of case may miss out parts of what happened or become confused for various reasons.
Such reasons could be “fear, anxiety, genuine confusion and even misplaced shame.”
Two other men have also been charged in connection with the case.
Blane McIlroy, 26, of Royal Lodge Road, Belfast, is charged with one count of exposure. He denies the charge.
Rory Harrison, 25, of Manse Road, Belfast is charged with perverting the course of justice and withholding information. He denies the charges.
Mr Harrison took the alleged victim home on the night in question.
The prosecution barrister said initially he may have seemed like a “knight in shining armour”, but in reality he was “one of the boys sticking together”.
The trial continues.
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