Conor Quaid loses appeal against rape conviction

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Court of Appeal dismissed Conor Quaid’s appeal against his rape conviction in a judgment delivered by Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy on 22 June 2022.

Quaid, of Monaree, Dingle, Co Kerry, had pleaded not guilty to raping a family friend at a place in the county on 10 June 2018. A jury found him guilty by a majority of 10 to one after a seven-day trial at the Central Criminal Court in Cork in September 2020.

Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty imposed an eight-year prison sentence, suspending 18 months on condition that Quaid be of good behaviour for three years after his release and stay away from the victim in perpetuity. The sentencing proceedings were reported on 25 March 2021.

Quaid appealed, arguing that the trial judge had failed to define recklessness in her charge to the jury on consent and had placed undue pressure on the jury to reach a verdict. At the appeal hearing on 11 March 2022, his counsel, Michael Bowman SC, argued that the jury had been told drunkenness equated with recklessness.

The Court of Appeal dismissed all grounds. Ms Justice Kennedy said the jury had not been advised that drunkenness equated with recklessness. The court also rejected the complaint that the trial judge had placed undue pressure on the jury.