Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Alleged rape victim’s texts to her friend
Woman texted pal to tell of alleged sex attack
A COURT yesterday heard a series of texts between two friends after one of them alleged she was raped by two Ulster rugby stars.
The messages, gathered in evidence against Paddy Jackson, Stuart Olding, Blane Mcilroy and Rory Harrison, were read out by the complainant’s best friend who had been with her in Ollie’s nightclub on the evening of Monday June 27, 2016.
After arriving home at around 5.15am, the alleged victim texted her friend at 9.51am saying she had been attacked.
Initially she said she did not want to go to the police, but her friend of seven years told her at the time “this is beyond serious” before eventually driving her to the Brook sexual health clinic in Belfast.
From the witness box, the friend said she and the woman in question had been socialising in the VIP area of Ollie’s nightclub.
After closing time the pals parted company and the 21-year-old friend told the court a text from her girlfriend had dropped at 3.04am stating simply: “I’m back at Paddy Jackson’s.” She replied: “Ha ha how and why?” The complainant did not reply for around six hours but when she did, the conversation had taken on a different tone. The complainant, who was 19 at the time of the alleged incident, wrote: “Worst night ever. So I got raped.” Her message ended with five sad face emojis.
The woman’s friend told Belfast Crown Court she was stunned by the content of the texts.
Answering questions from prosecutor Toby Hedworth, she said: “I was in shock.
“I said I was so sorry. I told her I shouldn’t have left her. I said I’d never leave her again.”
The friend asked the complainant if she could telephone her.
But she received as text that read: “******* , it’s no way, shape or form your fault.”
The friend asked: “Where are you?” The complainant answered: “I feel sick.” Her pal added: “I’m so sorry.”
And in a series of texts the complainant said: “I was entirely fine going back to that afters.
“So went back to their house. There were three others girls too. Good fun for a while then the girls started to get slutty.
“There was one guy I really didn’t like and I was like right I’m going to go now.
“Went to get my shoes but my clutch was upstairs. 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. I have bruising on my inner thighs. I feel like I’ve got bruising literally on my f***y. They were so rough I’ve got my period a week early.”
The friend asked: “Were there more than one?”
The complainant responded: “Two and then a third tried to get involved. I was crying.”
The friend told her: “I’m so sorry.” And the complainant explained that a “really nice guy” took her home.
When her friend phoned the alleged injured party, she texted: “I can’t take a call. I don’t want anyone to hear.” The concerned girlfriend advised the complainant she needed to “get swabbed right now” and told her she needed to speak with the police.
She replied: “I’m not going to the police. I’m not going up against Ulster Rugby because they’ll help.”
The friend said: “I’m never leaving you on your own again.” She replied: “I was crying and saying, ‘At least use a condom’ and Jackson said, ‘I am’.
“I was sick. I was shouting and a third guy was trying to get his d**k into me. I was on the landing at this stage.” She continued: “It was Paddy, some blond guy and Blane. He’s a c**t too.”
The friend asked: “How did you make it out?”
She said a fourth man told her what had happened would not make her any less of a person and he was “sorry and disgusted”.
She added: “Like he actually got me into a taxi and asked if he could do anything for me or get anyone for me. I was bawling the whole way home.”
In another text she told her friend: “I was nipping and scratching Jackson’s arm because he was trying to get his whole hand into me.” And when urged to report the matter to the police, the complainant texted back: “I’d report it if I knew they’d get done but they won’t.”
Trying to encourage her friend to speak with police, her pal told her: “They are known to some people, they’re really not the be all and end all of the earth.’
The alleged victim said: “They are scum. It’s that rugby schoolboy attitude times a million.”
The friend urged the complainant to attend a Rape Crisis centre and get
I’ve got bruising on my inner thighs. They were so rough.. I was crying COMPLAINANT TEXT TO FRIEND DAY AFTER ALLEGED ATTACK
an morning-after pill. She replied: “Like I hadn’t even shaved my legs. I wasn’t up or ready for f ***** g anything. I feel so hollow. I f ***** g hate guys. I’m so f ***** g done with everything”.
Her friend replied: “This does not define your life from now on. You need counselling.
“You just cannot deal with this on your own. You need to get a full screening. This is beyond serious.”
This same friend drove the woman into Belfast city centre on the afternoon of June 28 to find a Rape Crisis clinic but discovered it had closed down. The women moved on to the nearby Brook Centre, where the woman spoke to a male counsellor.
And she told the court she had sent her friend a number of photographs from the night in question which had been shared on social media.
The woman texted the complainant, who featured in the background of the images, and said: “I know it’s not the sort of thing you want to see right now but I think they could help.”
The alleged victim replied: “That’s me getting my shoes on to leave the first time.”
Mr Hedworth asked the witness how her friend had seemed to be in terms of level of intoxication on the night in question.
She replied: “I’d had three doubles and I assumed she’d had the same amount of drinks as me. And I can remember leaving and I assumed she could too.
“I didn’t think she was that – you go to a club and drink. But she was of sound mind – she could look after herself.”
Paddy Jackson, 26, from Belfast’s Oakleigh Park, is charged with one count of rape and one count of sexual assault.
Stuart Olding, 24, from Ardenlee Street, also in the city, is also accused of rape.
Blane Mcilroy, 26, of Royal Lodge Road, Belfast, is charged with one count of exposure and 25-year-old Rory Harrison, of Manse Road, also in the city, is charged with perverting the course of justice and withholding information.
Each of the men deny all charges against them.
The jury of nine men and three women has been repeatedly advised by Judge Patricia Smyth to wait until all evidence has been heard before coming to any final conclusions.
The trial continues
I was crying and saying ‘At least use a condom’ and Jackson said ‘I am’ COMPLAINANT TEXT TO FRIEND DAY AFTER ALLEGED ATTACK