Jackson pal ‘spoke in low tone in taxi’

A FRIEND of rape accused Paddy Jackson had a mobile phone conversation that was “like they were talking in code” while taking the alleged victim home in a taxi, a court heard yesterday.

Driver Stephen Fisher picked up Rory Harrison and the complainant near Jackson’s South Belfast house on the night of the alleged attack in 2016.

He told the court: “I could see she was crying and the gentleman was holding her as if he was helping her.

“She definitely seemed very upset, crying, sobbing. She didn’t really talk very much apart from saying where she was going.

COMFORT

“The gentleman held her as though to comfort the lady. He was holding her. Her head was on his chest.”

The taxi driver said he did not know if Harrison had made a phone call or had received one but confirmed he had overheard parts of Harrison’s side of a brief phone conversation.

Mr Fisher told the court: “I could hear small snippets, like they were talking in code.

“There was no full fluid conversation – it was small snippets of conversation.

“The conversation was something they didn’t want myself or anyone to hear. He was speaking in a low tone

He said Harrison told the other person: “She is with me now. She’s not good. I’ll call you.

Mr Fisher told the court: “They both sat in the rear of the car, the gentleman just behind me and the lady behind on the passenger side of the car.”

He was asked if the complainant had been unsteady on her feet at the time of getting out of the vehicle. He said: “As she walked away I thought I saw some type of stain on her trousers – the backside area.

“I said to him, ‘Did you have a rough night, a bad night?’ “He said, ‘You’ve no idea. You could say that’.”