Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
PADDY: I DIDN’T RAPE HER
Court hears Jackson was ‘shocked and horrified’ by claim
ULSTER rugby star Paddy Jackson told police he didn’t rape a 19-year-old at a house party, it was claimed yesterday.
Belfast Crown Court heard the defendant said he was “shocked and horrified” by the 2016 accusation.
During the two-day police interview, he strenuously denied the allegations and added: “I didn’t rape her.”
Jackson claimed the alleged victim flirted and followed him to his bedroom where she took part in consensual sexual activity with him and fellow Ireland player Stuart Olding.
RUGBY star Paddy Jackson told police he presumed he had consent to have sexual activity with the woman accusing him of rape a court heard yesterday.
The Ulster and Ireland player’s interviews with detectives were read out on day 20 of his rape trial.
Belfast Crown Court heard how he told officers he had not raped the woman who attended a party at his house in June 2016.
The court heard he:
Presumed he had consent because they had initiated kissing together
Did not know he had hurt her despite the presence of blood
Could not ejaculate because he had been drinking
Denied trying to push his hand inside the woman, calling that sex act “disgusting”, and
Had not seen Blane Mcilroy standing naked in his bedroom at any stage.
The jury of nine men and three women listened intently as prosecutor Toby Hedworth QC and a police constable read the PSNI interview transcript to the court.
They heard Jackson had also told officers he believed the alleged victim had left his South Belfast home on her own, saying he heard her high heels on the tiled floor. At the end of two interviews with detectives from the PSNI Rape Crime Unit he was asked if he had been surprised to have oral sex with the alleged victim.
He told officers: “It felt good. I enjoyed having sex, yeah. I thought.. for not talking with someone, what she was doing was pretty forward.”
Jackson told detectives he had waved and smiled at Stuart Olding who came into the room while he was having oral sex with the complainant.
He said: “It sounds so weird saying it here. She was performing oral sex.. that went on for a good bit.. the door was already open or just half open.
“Stuart came upstairs and he looked in. I don’t think he knew we were up there. He was walking around the house maybe seeing where I was.
“He came in and saw that she was .. performing oral sex. She couldn’t see him. But then I kind of waved and smiled and then.. he came in and then he sat on the end of the bed and I think she saw him and she started performing oral sex on him.
“I was just kind of watching and then I think from there I start.. I maybe took her, pulled her trousers down and while she was performing oral sex on him I was using my fingers on her downstairs region.”
Police asked Jackson in interview: “How did the girl seem about performing oral sex on Stuart?” He told them: “Well she did it so it wasn’t forced on her at all. Or it just happened, It wasn’t like.. I presume because she did it, she wanted to do it.”
Under caution he told officers: “The weird thing for me was that she was very much instigated em, she.. I felt she was very forward with me and she kept leading me on but I felt that we both knew that we were going to end up... sorry I don’t know what words to use for it. Sorry I just feel very awkward today talking about it.”
Asked how long it lasted, Jackson told police: “No it wasn’t too long really. I think he [Olding] then went downstairs and then me and her continued, we were still kissing and touching each other. So me and Stuart were obviously with her and once we finished I went back down to the party.
“I was talking with friends and stuff and then I think she just left from there and I presume she got a taxi home.
“I didn’t realise anything was, there’d been any... I didn’t rape her, and .. and now we’re here.”
Asked by police if the woman had said he was hurting her, the court heard Jackson told them: “I don’t remember, I would have stopped. I don’t understand why she would not leave if she didn’t want to be there. She didn’t have to stay. She could have left but she didn’t. I didn’t force myself on her.”
Asked a second time about the pain she claimed she suffered Jackson told police: “I don’t remember that. I think if I did I would have stopped. I definitely would have stopped.”
And when asked about blood, he said: “My initial thought was that maybe it was something to do with her period,” later adding, “there was just a little bit on my fingers. And then I think there was a bit on the sheets”.
Police told him: “She’s saying you were trying to put your whole hand ...” He responded: “No I would never do that. I would never do that – that’s disgusting.”
Jackson’s first statement to the PSNI included a claim the alleged victim had been flirting with him.
The court heard how he told them: “Every time she would walk past me she would kind of, she touched me a few times just like in a flirty way which was quite nice.
“I went upstairs and I think she was sitting in the living room and then she followed me up and that’s when we sat on the bed and we were kissing.
“It looked like one thing was going to lead to another and that’s when she asked me if I knew her name and I
I don’t understand why she wouldn’t leave if she didn’t want to be there. She could have left PADDY JACKSON STATEMENT TO POLICE INVESTIGATING RAPE CLAIM
didn’t and then it seemed she was maybe trying to tease me by saying, ‘Oh you, you don’t know my name’.
“It was like she was kind of like she said, ‘Oh nothing’s going to happen now’, so I walked downstairs for a good bit and then basically just the same thing happened again.”
He later told police: “We were just sitting on the bed kissing and holding each other and then that’s when the rest happened.
“I started leaning back and she was on top of me and we were kissing pretty passionately and she was kind on top of me and I had my arms on her back, or my hands on her back. We were just kissing and then she went down and started kissing my neck. I remember she bit my lip, pretty hard. She started kissing my neck and then she went down and took my trousers down and started performing oral sex.”
Asked who initiated contact, Jackson told police: “We both did. We were standing in the middle of the room and just started kissing.”
And when police asked Jackson what he was doing while Stuart Olding was in the room, he said: “I was touching her and I was just doing that slowly. I didn’t force myself on her. So I presume if she... it was happening and she wanted it to happen, there was, she .. we didn’t .. she didn’t have to stay. She could have left if she wanted. But she didn’t. “
The officers asked Jackson how he knew she was consenting and he said: “I think because she, well, she initiated the.. at the start.. well she .. me and her were kissing to begin with .. and then when Stuart came in like, she just did it. I didn’t know .. I didn’t tell her to do it or tell Stuart to get her to do it.
“She asked me if I had a condom and I didn’t so .. she maybe wanted to have sex but we didn’t because I didn’t have a condom. I think Stuart left and then me and her were still doing a bit. I was drunk so I couldn’t ejaculate so I just went back downstairs and sat down in the living room again and just had chats. I think she got changed and left. I think, I presume she got a taxi.”
Police put it to Jackson that Blane Mcilory had come into his bedroom while the complainant was there.
The court heard he had told them: “Well I don’t remember that. No.. just I thought he was downstairs.”
Police asked Jackson how he felt about Olding’s behaviour with the woman in his company: The court heard the rugby player told them: “No .. but you know between mates. It sounds stupid because we are here now but obviously we thought it was good if you know what I mean.” 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, Belfast, is charged with rape.
Blane Mcilroy, 26, of Royal Lodge Road, Belfast, is charged with one count of exposure.
Rory Harrison, 25, of Manse Road, Belfast, is charged with perverting the course of justice and withholding information.
Each of the accused deny all charges against them.