Man acquitted of sexual assault charge as Wicklow jury delivers unanimous verdict

By Darragh McCann, The Wicklow People

A man has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting a young woman following a night out in the summer of 2023, after a jury at Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court returned a unanimous verdict.

The accused, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his alleged victim, appeared before Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court for the second and final day of his trial on Thursday, January 29.

The accused, a 21-year-old man, had pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual assault.

On the first day of the trial, the court heard that the prosecution case centred on the issue of consent. Counsel for the prosecution, James Kelly BL, told the jury that the complainant and the accused had socialised together on the night in question in 2023, after meeting at a local pub with mutual friends.

The complainant told the court that, while some physical contact between them, including kissing, was consensual, she did not consent to further sexual contact, which she alleged occurred as the pair sat near her home in the early hours of the morning.

It is alleged that as they kissed, the defendant digitally penetrated the woman without her consent, which she said on Wednesday left her feeling “paralysed” and resigned to “become a victim”.

The defence maintains that the interaction between the pair was consensual and denies that any sexual assault took place.

During cross-examination, the complainant was questioned about her actions following the alleged incident, her contact with the accused on social media, and the timing of her report to gardaí.

It was put to her that the encounter involved evolving consensual contact between two young people, a claim she rejected, telling the court that consent can be withdrawn at any time.

Day two began with the prosecution apologising, after producing a Snapchat conversation between the victim and the accused late on Wednesday evening. A garda told the court that he realised the previous evening that he had a copy of the conversation that had been discussed on day one of the trial in his email archive.

Messages were screenshotted using the victim’s iPad - Snapchat alerts the other user when a screenshot is taken.

The garda also took a statement from the victim’s mother regarding the timeline of when her daughter told her she had been sexually assaulted. This statement was not sent to solicitor for the defence, Brendan Maloney.

Barrister for the defendant, Justin McQuade BL, stated that there was no reference in the victim’s statement to telling her mother, with the garda telling the court that he had been given the impression during interview that the day of her initial report was the day her mother found out.

Mr McQuade remarked that the mother had sat through a full day of evidence and cross-examination before giving her statement.

The victim was recalled to the stand to resume cross-examination.

Mr McQuade enquired where she learned her “court etiquette”, with her stating that she had been told prior to testifying that she would “need to put up her guard”.

The court was told that defence counsel had Googled the term “making out”, which was used by the victim in her statement, and that it was defined as engaging in passionate, extended kissing and associated with the term “heavy petting”.

Heavy petting was described as intense, prolonged physical affection and sexual stimulation that stops short of sexual intercourse. The victim remarked that this was not what she considers making out.

A timeline of events after the alleged incident was put to the victim, with Mr McQuade alluding to a Snapchat streak that continued between the pair after the alleged assault. The victim stated that she sends her “streaks” in one bulk message.

Mr McQuade told the court that the prosecution’s belief was that the accused had begun seeing another woman, leading the victim to make threats about going to gardaí.

Mr McQuade stated that the accused “stayed faithful to himself and refused to bend to the threats”, adding: “You put a gun to this young man’s head and he stood firm that he didn’t do anything wrong.”

On the day she reported the alleged sexual assault, the defence alleged that the victim saw the accused and another girl getting on well.

The victim told the court that she did not get a good look at them “as she was running for her life”.

Mr McQuade described such a phrase as “inflammatory” in front of a jury.

The court heard that the victim has an uncle from outside the jurisdiction, who returned to Ireland in late 2023 and allegedly assaulted the accused at his place of work while shouting: “He raped her, he raped her.”

The victim denied telling her uncle and stated that she “isn’t in control of other people’s actions”.

The victim’s mother told the court that she made her statement on Wednesday and said her daughter told her what had happened a few weeks after the alleged incident in 2023. She stated that her daughter told her she was sexually assaulted on the way home and that she tried to force his hand away before she went red and began crying.

Mr McQuade suggested that she benefited from sitting through the earlier testimony. She replied: “The only thing I got from sitting through it was more trauma.”

Her statement was read to the jury, with her saying she was trying to empower her daughter and that she had raised a “strong daughter”.

Mr McQuade enquired about her brother’s actions towards the accused, with her stating that he is not the type to “throw slaps around”. Allegations that she attempted to bad-mouth the accused to his employer were put to her, which she denied.

The investigating garda testified that the accused is not known to gardaí and confirmed that the alleged assault by the victim’s uncle was reported to police.

The prosecution then closed its case, with the defence calling three witnesses.

A woman who was present on the day of the original report told the court that the victim had spoken to her about what had happened at a mutual friend’s birthday. Text messages between the woman and the accused were read to the court, in which she stated that “nobody believes the rumours”.

Mr Kelly noted that a pub is not a suitable place to have an in-depth conversation about such matters, a point with which the witness agreed.

Another woman told the court that she was on holiday with the victim when the accused appeared on social media, alleging that the victim said: “That’s my rapist.”

A member of bar staff who was on duty on the night of the alleged assault by the uncle told the court that he lives with the accused and heard the uncle allegedly shout that the accused was a rapist. He stated that he removed the man from the premises due to “the realisation of how it could escalate”.

Mr Kelly enquired about CCTV footage, with the witness stating that it had been provided to gardaí but that he had never personally viewed it.

Following closing arguments from both sides, Judge Patrick Quinn delivered his charge to the jury of 10 men and two women.

The jury deliberated for a little over an hour before returning a unanimous verdict of not guilty. Both the defendant and the victim were seen crying as the verdict was delivered.