Two men convicted after second trial over hotel car park attack

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

A Central Criminal Court jury returned convictions against two men on 21 February 2024 after a second trial involving an incident at a hotel car park in Leinster in December 2017. The proceedings were reported on 21 February 2024.

The first defendant, aged 25, pleaded not guilty to rape, oral rape and two counts of sexual assault. The second defendant, aged 24, pleaded not guilty to rape and oral rape.

The first defendant was convicted of all four charges. The second was convicted of oral rape, but the jury could not reach a verdict on the rape charge against him.

The State’s case was that the then 17-year-old complainant was raped in turn by the men in a car after going for a drive with them. Both defendants denied wrongdoing.

The jury in the first trial had been unable to agree verdicts on any of the eight counts against three defendants. In the second trial, the jury returned its verdicts after seven and a half hours of deliberations.

Both men were remanded in custody pending sentence on 22 April, and a victim impact report was ordered for that date. Ms Justice Eileen Creedon thanked the jury.