'The last thing I want is a girl crying leaving my house': RTÉ releases documentary on the Belfast rape trial
This week's RTÉ Radio 1 Documentary on One is a documentary on the marathon trial that dominated public and private discussion in the first part of 2018.
“The last thing I want is a girl crying leaving my house.” So said Paddy Jackson, referring to a party in his house in June 2016, during what was known as the 'Belfast rape trial'.
The trial took place in Belfast in the early months of this year and led to widespread media coverage, social media commentary and street protests.
Jackson and Ireland and Ulster team-mate Stuart Olding, 25, were found not guilty of raping the same woman in June 2016 by a jury which deliberated for three hours and 45 minutes after hearing all the evidence in the marathon trial.
Two other men, Blane McIlroy, 26, and Rory Harrison, 25, were also unanimously acquitted of lesser charges connected to the alleged incident.
This documentary features the two leading barristers in the case.
Toby Hedworth, QC for the Prosecution, made headlines for his use of pithy and colloquial language - he described Paddy Jackson as looking like “the cat that got the cream” or Stuart Olding as having drunk “a skinful”.
He says about his cross-examination techniques, in general: "You've got to talk to a jury and witnesses in ways that they understand and you're on a level with them - people don't generally say 'was intoxicated' - they say ‘skinful’. It’s easier to get a jury to understand what you're driving at by using that sort of language. It may be that, in choosing the question in the hope that the question and answer resonate with jury - it's quotable because you've distilled it to make an impact."
Listen to the documentary here.
In 2018, 4 men, including Irish rugby stars Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding, were acquitted on all charges relating to an alleged rape. This is an insight into a trial that dominated public and private conversations. Listen online now or @RTERadio1 Sat@2pm https://t.co/pdKT0EBtrN
— RTÉ Documentary On One (@RTEdoconone) November 23, 2018
Brendan Kelly QC for Paddy Jackson was criticised for introducing the complainant’s thong into court:
“The clothes had to be introduced because of the confusion as to what might have been the source of blood and what was the source of blood. Had counsel not put the clothing to the witness, the whole approach of counsel would have been called into question by the judge and by the Crown and we would have been bound to be criticised that these points are made to the jury but the complainant was not given the opportunity to answer them."
Documentary On One: Notes From A Belfast Rape Trial is a difficult listen.
You are put in the position of the jury - you have to listen to some quite graphic testimony, but you also get a sense of why that jury decided.
