Suspect in landmark dropped rape case dies
A man at the centre of the only rape investigation of its kind in this country has died.
The DPP decided not to bring the case to court as the accused was an identical twin with the same DNA profile as his brother.
In what is believed to be a landmark decision, gardaí were told not to proceed with the case because the DNA evidence was crucial to a conviction.
The rape took place in the Limerick area over 10 years ago. The victim, a middle-aged woman, was dragged to waste ground as she was walking home at night and subjected to a brutal attack over a number of hours.
Garda sources involved in the original investigation confirmed yesterday that the suspect has died.
Supt Eamon O’Neill of Roxboro Road Station, when asked to comment yesterday, said: “A person of interest in the investigation is now deceased.”
DNA samples taken from the victim matched that of the accused man.
However, after DNA swabs were sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory for analysis it was discovered that the suspect was an identical twin.
Although there was strong evidence against the suspect, the DPP decided not to prosecute after the accused’s brother refused to co-operate with gardaí. Without his cooperation and because DNA evidence was so central to the trial, it would be impossible to prove in court to which brother the DNA evidence belonged.
Identical twins have identical DNA. They come from the same fertilised egg, which had only one complete set of DNA. That fertilised egg and its single set of DNA split to form twin embryos — each with its own set of DNA, but identical to the other.
Superintendent Frank O’Brien, now retired, confirmed at the time that the case against the suspect had been dropped and that DNA was “an issue”.
Supt O’Brien said they were satisfied that the woman was subjected to a “savage rape”, adding: “We communicated the result to her, that the DPP directed no prosecution, and gave her all the counselling support we could.”
Supt O’Brien said it was the job of the gardaí to gather evidence during an investigation and for the DPP to make a decision based on that evidence.
Supt O’Brien said: “That is his call.”
A spokesperson for the Forensic Science Laboratory’s DNA section said at the time she had not come across a case before involving identical twins.
She accepted that visual identification of the suspect might not be of any use in an identical twin situation.
She said the Limerick case did not mean DNA evidence was of no use in cases involving people who had identical twins, and that it could prove crucial along with corroborating evidence.
