Woman ‘held out her hand’ before they kissed, Olding told police in interview

STUART Olding claimed the alleged victim “held out her hand” to him before the pair kissed, the trial heard yesterday.

The 24-year-old said that he went into a bedroom at Paddy Jackson’s home to go to sleep but found the young woman “straddling” Jackson on the bed.

Olding, from Ardenlee Street, was being interviewed by police two days after the alleged attack.

Both Olding and Jackson deny rape. Jackson denies a further charge of sexual assault.

Two others, Rory Harrison and Blane McIlroy, are also charged in connection with the same incident.

McIlroy (26) is charged with, and denies, exposure while Harrison (25) denies perverting the course of justice and withholding information.

Belfast Crown Court listened to an audio interview carried out with Olding.

He told officers he went into the bedroom to go to sleep and saw the pair on the bed, but when he went to leave the woman allegedly held out her hand.

“She then started performing oral sex on me,” he told police.

Olding was asked how much alcohol he drank on Monday, June 27, and into the early morning of the following day.

He said that he started drinking at McIlroy’s house where he consumed six tins of Carlsberg and after going to Cutter’s Wharf in Belfast he drank a further four pints of Guinness and two gin and tonics.

He also said he drank a further five vodkas and lemonades and three shots in Ollie’s night club in Belfast city centre.

He confirmed that after leaving Ollie’s, he and his three friends and four women, including the alleged victim, went back to Jackson’s house.

Some hours later he claimed he went upstairs to go to bed and walked into Jackson’s bedroom where he saw his friend and the woman on the bed.

Olding told police that when he entered the room, Jackson had his top off and the woman was “straddling him”. “They were kissing,” he said. “I was about to leave and then ended up staying.”

He told police the woman hinted that he should stay. When the officer asked him “she put her hand out?”, he said “yes”.

Olding could be heard telling police that he and the alleged victim started kissing.

When asked what made him think she was consenting to the kiss, he said: “She wasn’t pulling away.

“She kissed me back.

“It was open mouth with tongues.”

He then said she performed oral sex on him.

When a detective asked how it escalated from kissing to oral sex he said he “didn’t really recall” and that it “sort of happened”.

He added that the oral sex lasted some five minutes and that after ejaculating he left and went to the bathroom.

The court heard that Olding did not return to Jackson’s bedroom and slept in an upstairs living room.

Judge Patricia Smyth reminded the members of the jury not to discuss the case with family and friends and not to carry out any research of their own.

The trial continues on Monday.