Woman withdrew claim she was raped by ‘foreigner’ after viewing CCTV

A woman who went to gardaí after a night out in Killarney and gave a detailed account of being raped by “a Pakastani looking” man withdrew her complaintafter being shown CCTV images which depicted her in the company of an Irishman whom she knew, a court heard.

Jacinta O’Connor (26), Steelroe, Killorglin, Co Kerry is on trial at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee for knowingly making a false report and for wasting garda time. She denies the charge.

The court heard that around 4 am on September 22nd 2014, Ms O’Connor went to the garda station in claimed she was raped by a “foreign national” .

She gave a formal statement to gardaí on September 23rd saying she had been raped and signed the statutory declaration knowing that if it was untrue and tendered in evidence she would be liable to prosecution, Garda Breda O’Donoghue told the jury of nine women and three men.

However on October 10th, 2014, midway through viewing images harvested from CCTV, Ms O’Connor’s demeanour changed, Garda O’Donoghue said.

She said she knew the man but did not want to say who he was.

“She said she did have sex; it was with consent and it was not with the man in the green hood,” Garda O’Donoghue said.

The case continues.