Teen who alleges rape quizzed on texts

AN 18-year-old who was allegedly raped by a schoolmate after a night-out has said she tried to ask friends for help after the incident.

A 19-year-old male has denied one count of rape and one of oral rape of the teenager in a Co. Donegal town following St Patrick’s Day celebrations on March 18, 2016. The accused cannot be named for legal reasons.

The female has previously told the court that she met the boy in a takeaway restaurant and that they went for a walk and he raped her behind a nearby building.

On the fourth day of the trial at the Central Criminal Court she was being cross-examined about texts and calls she made and received from her friends on the night of the alleged incident.

Michael O’Higgins SC, defending, asked her why she sent a few texts to a friend in the early hours saying: ‘I don’t know what happened.’

She replied: ‘I just wanted somebody to be able to help.’

When asked by counsel if it was possible that she didn’t, in fact, know what had happened, she replied: ‘I know exactly what happened, but I also know that at that time I was in shock. It wasn’t easy to say.’

She broke down in tears several times during yesterday’s cross-examination. When asked if she had told her friends ‘something of a white lie’ by saying she didn’t know what had happened, the teenager said she didn’t think it was fair to call it a ‘white lie’.

‘I was trying to ask for help, but I couldn’t bring myself to say what it was,’ she said.

Mr O’Higgins also quizzed her as to why she had changed her Facebook profile picture the next day to a photo from the night before showing herself and her friends.

‘At that time I was still in shock. I was trying to move on with things and pretend this didn’t happen,’ she replied.

The trial continues before Judge Deirdre Murphy and a jury of eight men and four women.