Student tells court she was ‘handled like a piece of meat’

A STUDENT who says she was raped by rugby players Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding has claimed she was “handled like a piece of meat” during the alleged sex attack.

The 21-year-old also told Belfast Crown Court “there was not one bit of my body that hadn’t been touched”.

Ulster and Ireland rugby players Jackson (26), from Oakleigh Park in Belfast, and Olding (24), of Ardenlee Street in the city, deny raping the woman at Jackson’s house in 2016.

Jackson denies a further charge of sexual assault. In cross-examination by Olding’s barrister Frank O’Donoghue, the complainant said she was forced to perform oral sex on Olding as she was being raped by Jackson.

The alleged victim was asked why she didn’t ask Olding for help when he walked into the bedroom by saying “Help me, I’m being raped and I’m going to be raped again”. She responded: “It was quite clear what Mr Olding’s intention was as well. So much so that I turned to Patrick Jackson and said, ‘Please not him as well’.

“This man was not going to help me. He was also going to rape me.” The woman accepted Olding didn’t “verbally” instruct her to perform oral sex. She added: “There were no words exchanged ... there was no consent established.”

Mr O’Donoghue went on to suggest the complainant, whom he claimed was “straddling” Jackson, “beckoned” Olding to stay. He said: “You performed oral sex on him quite voluntarily and quite consensually.”

She answered: “I completely refute everything you have just said.”

After making the case that after ejaculating, Olding went to another bedroom where he fell asleep, she told Mr O’Donoghue he could “suggest that”. She re- peated she was not sure if Olding had remained after the oral sex, telling the court “I am not going to change my stance on that”. The barrister also questioned the woman’s account to a doctor at the Rowan Centre — the regional sexual assault referral centre — on the evening of June 28, 2016.

He asked why she had made no mention of being orally raped, instead saying she had been vag- inally raped three times. Mr O’Donoghue said she had provided an “utterly inconsistent history” to the doctor.

The complainant replied: “I think you are underestimating the state of shock you go into when you’ve been raped.”

She denied suggestions she had “invented” a history of events that was “wrong”.

“I would not use the word invented,” she added.

“You are trying to process what has happened to you.

“It is not a case of inventing incidents at all.”

Graphic details of the alleged oral rape by Olding were also heard by the court. Mr O’Donoghue argued the oral sex act had been consensual and said: “Mr Olding told you that he was going to climax. That he was going to ejaculate?” The woman said: “No, I do not recall, and for the record, it was not consensual.”

Mr O’Donoghue added: “You removed your head and he ejaculated.”

The woman said: “I did not witness that.”

The lawyer said it was “inconceivable” the woman did not witness any ejaculation and suggested her top may have been contaminated by sperm which had been on the complainant’s hand. Olding’s defence barrister also told the court his client had

I would not use the word invented. You are trying to process what has happened to you

entered the bedroom intending to “crash out”.

The woman said: “Why did he then rape me? Those are not the actions of someone who is going to crash out.”

The complainant, who was 19 at the time of the alleged attack in June 2016, said she didn’t know who Olding was.

She told the court she wrote down a description of him when she got home, and later identified him on a photograph on Jackson’s Facebook account wearing his “team kit”.

She said: “Because I knew Patrick Jackson’s name I searched that on Facebook and then went through photos of him until I saw a photo of him with Stuart Olding. I believe he was in his full kit.”

Throughout proceedings the four defendants, who arrived at court separately, sat alongside each other in the dock.

Jackson was dressed in a navy jumper and open neck shirt.

Olding wore a dark suit, white shirt and blue tie.

McIlroy was wearing a dark grey suit, white shirt and tie while Harrison was dressed in a dark blue suit, white shirt and patterned tie. The woman gave evidence from behind a curtain and her evidence was relayed to the court through a screen.

The trial continues.