Four men convicted of rape and sexual assaults in Midlands trial

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

Four men were convicted of sexual assault and other offences following a trial at the Central Criminal Court, sitting at Croke Park. The proceedings were reported on 7 April 2022.

The four men had pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of rape, sexual assault and false imprisonment. The offences were alleged to have taken place at locations in the Midlands on 27 December 2016, when the complainant was 17. A fifth man, who was not tried with the four, pleaded guilty to raping her that night.

The jury convicted the driver of sexually assaulting the woman during the journey and raping her at a remote location. Another defendant was convicted of sexual assault during the journey and oral rape at a car park. A third was convicted of sexual assault during the journey and of rape at both locations. The latter two men were also convicted of falsely imprisoning her at the car park. The fourth defendant was convicted of sexual assaults during the journey and at the remote location.

The jury also returned not guilty verdicts on a number of charges. All verdicts were unanimous. The defendants’ lawyers had told the jury that some alleged sexual acts did not take place and that their clients believed any acts that did occur were consensual.

Justice Tara Burns remanded the four defendants in custody for a sentence hearing on 30 May 2022 and ordered a victim impact report.