WILL WOMAN AT CENTRE OF RAPE TRIAL NOW SUE?
Legal experts say ‘trespass to body’ and defamation cases possible
THE woman at the centre of the Belfast rape trial could sue the Irish rugby players who were acquitted in the case last week.
One of the UK’s most successful litigation lawyers has said the complainant can still take a lawsuit against some of the accused men for ‘trespass to her body’.
Matthew Jury – who made history by winning a lawsuit against alleged Omagh bombers Séamus Daly and Colm Murphy, forcing a £1.6million payout after the men were acquitted in the criminal courts – said the woman could sue Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding for physical and psychological damage to her person. There may also be a case against Blane McIlroy, who got naked but never
touched her, for psychological damage.
Separately, she could sue for defamation over lurid messages shared about her following the night she alleged she was raped in 2016, experts said.
There is now growing momentum for the woman to take a civil case, with a fundraiser to cover her legal costs already suggested by some of her supporters.
The push to get justice for the young woman comes after a number of marches were organised to show her support following the acquittal of the four accused men in Belfast last Wednesday.
The Irish Daily Mail is aware that a major UK law firm wants to talk to the woman about taking a case, and Mr Jury, who works for the renowned H20 firm, said there is still time for her to launch a case.
‘If an alleged victim is suing for personal injury, which would be the case in this instance, then the general rule is that they must do it within three years from the date of the incident. So, for an event that occurred in 2016, any claim issued now would be in time,’ he said.
Mr Jury said that the woman’s claim would be for the tort of ‘trespass to the person’, with ‘damages for any personal injuries, including psychiatric, arising from it’.
She would not have to prove rape, only that she had suffered physical or psychological harm as a result of some of the men’s actions. The burden of proof in a civil case is on the balance of probabilities, so a jury would only have to believe her version of events slightly more than the rugby players’. The case wouldn’t have to be proved beyond reasonable doubt, as it is in criminal cases.
Meanwhile, lecturer and author Dr Stuart Neilson tweeted that a fundraiser for the woman would likely cover her costs ‘several times over’, and reminded her supporters she would only have to prove her case on the balance of probabilities. One woman replied: ‘I’ll THROW money at that.’
Separately, the accuser, and other women who were present at the party where the complainant alleged she was sexually assaulted in 2016, could also sue some of the men for defamation of character, a legal source said yesterday.
Just after 1pm the day after the woman left the party in tears, Blane McIlroy, 26, sent a photograph of three of the other women at the party with the caption, ‘Love Belfast Sl*ts’, a characterisation the women could reject. At 11am that morning, Olding, 25, referred to the woman at the centre of the case as ‘very, very loose’ in a message to a friend.
The fourth man in the case, Rory Harrison, referred to her in a message to the other men as ‘just a silly girl who done something and then regretted it’. All of these are potential actions for defamation, the legal source said.
The source also said that under Section 6 of the Northern Ireland Defamation Act 1996, all defamation cases must be taken within a year. The messages were sent in 2016, two years ago, which could preclude a case. However, under Section 51 of the Limitation (NI) Order 1989, Northern Ireland courts can use their discretion to extend the time where the facts of the defamation had not become known to the complainant until after the expiration of the oneyear period. In that case, the one year runs from the earliest date the complainant knew all of the relevant facts.
In this case, the women may not have known about the potentially defamatory messages and texts until they were disclosed in the criminal case.
The potential for a court action by the complainant and the other women comes after Paddy Jackson, 26, launched a defamation case against Labour politician Aodhán Ó Ríordáin over a tweet the senator sent in the aftermath of the nine-week trial.
Jackson’s legal team, KRW Law, confirmed it’s suing Mr Ó Ríordáin.
Last week Jackson was acquitted of the rape and sexual assault of a woman, who was 19 at the time, at his home in Belfast in June 2016.
Fellow Ireland and Ulster player Olding was also acquitted of rape, while McIlroy was found not guilty of exposure.
Harrison was found not guilty of perverting the course of justice and was also cleared of withholding information.
‘I’ll throw money at that’