Three men plead not guilty to rape at Dublin trial

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

Three men pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping a woman at Bull Island, Dollymount, Dublin, on 5 January 2016. The proceedings were reported on 3 March 2020. The men cannot be named for legal reasons.

The trial heard that the woman, then aged 18, was allegedly driven to Dollymount Strand, raped by the three men in turn and left in the middle of nowhere. The men were teenagers at the time of the alleged offences.

Closing her cross-examination, Caroline Biggs SC, defending one of the men, suggested that an earlier incident involving another teenager was not rape and that her client had not raped the woman. Biggs suggested the complainant had confused rape with consensual sex. The woman rejected the suggestion.

The trial was continuing before Mr Justice Alexander Owens and a jury.