Man accused of raping teen brands claim ‘joke’ in court

A BELFAST man on trial on sex offences against a 14-year-old girl branded a rape allegation “a joke”, a court has heard.

William George McVeigh, from Forthriver Green in the Ballygomartin area of the city, is accused of raping the highly intoxicated teenager in Woodvale Park in the early hours of October 31, 2015.

The 28 year-old is also facing two ‘alternative’ charges — sexual activity with a child and sexual assault. He denies all offences. Belfast Crown Court has already heard evidence and watched CCTV footage which suggested the girl was so drunk after attending a birthday party that she was stumbling about the street, and fell several times.

After leaving a pub with a friend and walking towards Lanark Way just after midnight, the girl met McVeigh — who had been drinking vodka at a friend’s house — outside a Chinese takeaway.

Despite telling her parents she was staying at a friend’s house, the girl arrived home at 3.30am covered in mud and leaves. She told her mother that she couldn’t recall exactly what had happened, but said she remembered being in Woodvale Park with an older man.

That man, McVeigh, claimed that after meeting the girl they went for a walk before having consensual sex at the junction of Ainsworth Street and Caledon Street. McVeigh has maintained that the sex was consensual, and that she initiated it.

Asked by his barrister “Did you rape her?”, McVeigh answered: “No I did not, definitely not.”

And when asked what he made of the rape allegation, he replied: “It’s a joke.”

McVeigh admitted that he knew the girl was “blocked”, that he saw her staggering in the street and that he helped her to her feet on at least one occasion when she fell to the ground in front of him.

He said that at the time, he was “five out of ten” drunk.

He also claimed he had consensual sex with her on the street, that they never entered Woodvale Park and that she didn’t seem upset or worried by what occurred.

Under cross-examination by a Crown prosecutor, the jury heard McVeigh admit that on occasion he tells “white lies” and that he initially lied to police about his movements over the weekend of October 30/31, 2015.

At one point, he turned to the girl’s family who were sitting in the public gallery and said: “What the f *** are you lot laughing at?”

Asked by the prosecution “Lies just trip off your tongue, don’t they?”, McVeigh replied: “Sometimes.”