Olding: I did not force her in any way
Stuart Olding says ‘everything that happened on night was consensual’
‘I did not cause those injuries’
STUART Olding has said he did not in ‘any way’ force the woman who alleges he raped her in Paddy Jackson’s house.
The 24-year-old Ireland and Ulster rugby player was giving evidence a day after his teammate Mr Jackson appeared in the witness box at Belfast Crown Court.
Both men deny raping the woman at Mr Jackson’s home in the early hours of June 28, 2016.
Aasked if there was anything to suggest the complainant was not consenting to what was happening, Mr Olding said: ‘No, not at all. If I had thought that, nothing would have happened, nothing would have started and nothing would have continued.’
When asked earlier if he had forced the woman in any way. Mr Olding answered: ‘No, I did not force her in any way.’
The court heard how Mr Olding had initially gone upstairs to find somewhere to sleep. He said that the door to Mr Jackson’s bed room was closed, but that he opened it and walked in.
‘I saw Paddy on his back and [the alleged victim] on top of him and they were kissing at the time. I’m certain Paddy’s top was off. I’m not sure about his trousers. [The woman] was fully clothed.’
When asked what his reaction had been, he said: ‘I had just intruded in two people kissing on the bed. I turned to leave.
‘[The woman] turned around and held out her hand as an invitation to stay. I’m sure of that.
‘I closed the door and went over to the bed and started to kiss [her].’
In earlier evidence, Mr Olding insisted he had told police the truth about what happened when he was interviewed two days after the alleged attack. Frank O’Donoghoe QC for Mr Olding, asked him: ‘Do you stand by what you told the police? ‘Is that the truth?’ Mr Olding replied: ‘That is the truth.’
He dismissed as ‘completely untrue’ allegations that he and his friends tried to cover up what had happened. During cross examination by prosecutor Toby Hedworth QC, he was asked: ‘Is the reality that you have been engaged with your friends in trying to cover up what happened on a drunken night where you, Paddy Jackson and Blane McIlroy in a wholly different way, went way beyond what was acceptable?’
Mr Olding said: ‘No, that’s completely untrue. Everything that happened that night was consensual.’
The prosecution barrister also spent some time questioning Olding about his interpretation of ‘spit roast’ – a term the defendant had used in a WhatsApp communication with friends the day after the alleged attack.
The prosecution case is that it involves two men having sex with a woman at the same time, the court was told. ‘On your account, that did not happen,’ the barrister suggested.
When asked why he would have used the term, Mr Olding said he had been ‘boasting’ and ‘exaggerating’ to his friends to ‘make it seem more than what it was’.
Mr Hedworth then quoted another WhatsApp message in which Mr Olding described the activity as ‘like a merry-go-round at the carnival’.
‘That’s not the description of you getting oral sex while Paddy Jackson watched?’ he said.
‘No, it’s not, replied Mr Olding. The lawyer put it to him: ‘But they are your words?’ Mr Olding said: ‘They are my words, yes.’ Asked if he had caused the alleged victim’s vaginal injuries, Mr Olding said: ‘I did not cause those injuries.’
The defence asked him if he had ever been involved in a fight. He responded: ‘No, never in my life.’
Meanwhile, it emerged that Mr Olding had been angered when he learned that friends Rory Harrison, 25, and Blane McIlroy, 26 – who are also contesting charges connected to the alleged attack, had not disclosed that the woman was distressed or had said what happened was not consensual when they met for lunch the following day. ‘You must feel rather cross?’ asked the barrister. ‘Yeah, I would be cross.’ ‘Furious?’ the lawyer asked. Mr Olding answered: ‘Well, yes.’ But he said he did not believe they had maliciously withheld the information.
Mr Jackson, 26, of Oakleigh Park, Belfast has pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault in the early hours of June 28, 2016 at a party in his house. Mr Olding, 24, of Ardenlee Street, Belfast, denies one count of rape on the same occasion.
Blane McIlroy, 26, of Royal Lodge Road, Ballydollaghan, Belfast, has pleaded not guilty one count of exposure while Rory Harrison, 25, from Manse Road, Belfast, pleaded not guilty to perverting the course of justice and withholding information relating to the alleged incident.