Four men convicted of sexual offences in Midlands trial

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

A jury convicted four men of sexual offences against a teenage girl at the Central Criminal Court, sitting in Croke Park. The proceedings were reported on 7 April 2022. Justice Tara Burns remanded them in custody for a sentence hearing on 30 May 2022 and ordered a victim impact report.

All four had pleaded not guilty to raping the then 17-year-old girl on 27 December 2016. The first accused had also pleaded not guilty to two sexual assault counts and false imprisonment; the second to two sexual assault counts, oral rape and false imprisonment; the third to a further rape count, two sexual assault counts and false imprisonment; and the fourth to three sexual assault counts.

The driver was convicted of sexually assaulting the girl during the journey and raping her at a remote spot. A second man was convicted of sexual assault during the journey and oral rape in a car park. A third was convicted of sexual assault during the journey and rape at both locations. The second and third men were also convicted of falsely imprisoning her in the car park. The fourth man was convicted of sexual assaults during the journey and at the remote spot.

The jury returned not guilty verdicts on a number of charges. All verdicts were unanimous and followed just under nine hours of deliberations. A fifth man, who was not on trial with the four, had pleaded guilty to rape.

The woman told the jury she became upset when the assaults began and tried to push the men's hands away. She said she froze after the first rape. The defendants' lawyers said their position was that some alleged sexual acts never happened and that their clients believed any acts that did happen were consensual.