Misogynistic texts that linger beyond the jury’s verdict...
ALL four defendants have been acquitted of the charges against them in this very high-profile rape trial, but the text messages they sent have left a lasting impression.
They show a group of men boasting in the most crude way about their sexual exploits, using the language of porn movies. Stuart Olding boasts that they are all ‘top shaggers’ hours after they had sex with the woman.
He and Paddy Jackson boast that it was a ‘spit roast’ – a porn film expression. Mr Olding boasts, as the woman is being urged to contact the police, that she was ‘very, very loose’. Blane McIlroy jokes that ‘last night was hilarious’.
A friend of theirs asks if ‘any sluts were f **** d last night’. Rory Harrison is seen to be playing both sides – he drops the crying woman home and tells her to ‘keep the chin up you wonderful young woman’ yet is messaging Mr McIlroy a few hours later with the words ‘Mate, the scenes last night were hilarious’.
Mr Harrison, who has sent the woman a music video in an effort to console her, jokes about seeing all three men naked in the room with her. To Mr McIlroy he writes: ‘Walked upstairs and there were more flutes than the 12th of July’.
By piecing together the WhatsApp messages and the phone texts read in court, it’s possible to get an overall picture of what was happening and what the four accused and their accuser were thinking on the night of their encounter and in the days afterwards, as the woman was urged to go to the police, and the men went from boasting about their exploits to talks about hiring lawyers.
28 JUNE, 2016
The complainant meets Mr Jackson at Ollie’s nightclub in Belfast and is invited to a party. At 3:04am, she messages a friend. ‘I’m back at Paddy Jackson’s’. Her friend messages: ‘Haha, how and why??’ At 3:48am, Mr Jackson photographs Mr McIlroy with three girls. The complainant goes upstairs with Jackson. At 5:15am, A security camera records Mr Harrison walking the complainant to her front door. At 5:16am, Mr Harrison messages her. ‘Keep the chin up you wonderful young woman.’ She replies: ‘Thank you so much for leaving me home, I really appreciate it Rory, you’ve been far too kind.’ At 9:51am, the complainant messages the friend she left in Ollie’s with the message: ‘Worst night ever, so I got raped.’ 10:08am, the complainant messages another friend: ‘So I got raped by 3 Ulster f***ing rugby scum, brilliant f***ing night.’
She then texts the first friend, who was in Ollie’s, with an explanation of what happened upstairs, when she went to get her bag.
‘Went to get it and Paddy Jackson came up behind me.
‘He’d already tried it on earlier and I firmly told him where to go.
‘The next thing I’m bent over the bed. I have bruising on my inner thighs.
‘I feel like I’ve got bruising literally on my fanny. They were so rough I’ve got my period a week earlier.’
The friend asked: ‘Were there more than one?’
The complainant: ‘Two and then a third tried to get involved. I was crying.’ Friend: ‘I’m so sorry.’ The friend said the complainant should go to a rape crisis centre.
‘This does not define your life from now on. You need counsel- ling. You just cannot deal with this on your own. You need to get a full screening. This is beyond serious now,’ she also messaged. 10.58am: Olding messages a friend to say that the complainant was ‘very very loose’.
Another friend asks: ‘Any sluts get f***ed?’ Olding replies: ‘precious secrets .... ’, a Lord Of The Rings reference. At 11:16am, one of the JACOME WhatsApp group, which includes Mr Olding, Mr Jackson and Mr McIlroy, posts, ‘I said tonight is your lucky night.’ At 11:17am, Mr Olding tells the JACOME WhatsApp group, ‘we are all top shaggers’ and ‘there was a bit of spit-roasting going on last night fellas.’
Mr Jackson replies: ‘There was a lot of spit roast last night.’ Olding adds: ‘It was like a merry-go-round at the carnival.’
Mr McIlroy then messages Mr Harrison: ‘What the f**k was going on. Last night was hilarious.’ In the JACOME WhatsApp group, Mr Jackson posts the photos of Mr McIlroy with the three girls the night before (none of whom is the complainant)
Their friend, identified as JE in court, asks: ‘Who are they, brassers?’ (loose women) Mr McIlroy: ‘Aye’. JE: ‘F***ing Fantastic.’ Mr McIIroy: ‘Just a sample of how loose JACOME will be.’ At 12:01pm, Mr Harrison messages the complainant about a song he had sent her after he dropped her home the night before. ‘Ha, it was a song to calm you down before bed, never mind,’ followed by another message, ‘feeling better today?’ Some messages between the accused in the following two minutes are deleted and not recovered. The following message occurs after the woman reveals to Mr Harrison that she is thinking of reporting what happened: 12.03pm: Mr McIlroy to Mr Harrison: ‘Really, f**k sake, did you calm her, where does she live?’
Mr Harrison: ‘Mate, no jokes, she was in hysterics, wasn’t going to end well.’ At 12:06pm, Mr McIlroy reverts to the JACOME group to respond – ‘the whole squad.’
Mr Harrison to Mr McIlroy: ‘Just threw her home then went back to mine.’ At 12:15pm, the complainant writes to Mr Harrison: ‘I know you must be mates with those guys but I don’t like them and what happened was not consensual which is why I was so upset. Again, thank you for taking me home. That was really appreciated.’ 12.17pm Mr Harrison replies: ‘Jesus. I’m not sure what to say.’ 1.05pm, Mr Harrison to Mr McIlroy: ‘Mate the scenes last night were hilarious.’
Mr McIlroy replies, ‘It was a good night, I loved it.’
Mr Harrison: ‘Walked upstairs and there were more flutes than the 12th of July.’
Mr McIlroy : ‘Haha, so funny’. At 1:08pm, Mr McIlroy posts to a WhatsApp group called ‘The Juicers’ with a photo of the three other girls at the party sitting with him. ‘Love Belfast Sluts,’ he writes. At 1:45pm, AA, a member of the JACOME group writes: ‘Boys, did you spit roast brassers? Why are we all such legends?’ 2:31pm, Mr McIlroy (in response to AA) ‘I know, it’s ridiculous.’ 3:20pm, The complainant messages a male friend to say, ‘Are you in Belfast? I have a huge favour to ask, I need to go to Newry.’
Her male friend: ‘Why?’
The complainant: ‘I got raped last night, have to go to get forensic samples taken.’
The friend replies ‘Omg, that’s terrible, by who?’
The complainant responds, ‘I’m in the Brooke [sexual health clinic] now, 2 ulster rugby guys.’
29 JUNE, 2016
11:48am, Mr McIlroy messages a friend. ‘Pumped a girl with Jacko on Monday. Roasted her. Then another on Tuesday night.’
Mr Jackson and Mr Olding are arrested.
Mr McIlroy is called in for questioning.
Mr McIlroy to Mr Harrison: ‘Do you know who this girl even is? This is ridiculous, surely it’s all just gonna get dropped?’
Mr Harrison replies with the complainant’s name.
Mr McIIroy asks, ‘What age, what school?’
Mr Harrison: ‘I don’t know. Hopefully it’ll be thrown out. Just a silly girl who’s done something then regretted it. She’s causing so much trouble for the lads.’ At around 7pm Mr McIIroy tries to call Mr Harrison before going to the police station.
Mr Harrison: ‘Sorry I’m out for dinner and can’t speak. Let me know when you’re done. I’d say leave your phone.’