Paddy Jackson says he would have gone to police if told of rape allegation

Ireland and Ulster rugby player Paddy Jackson has denied he and his friends agreed a story to cover up an alleged rape but then forgot it due to excessive drinking.

Mr Jackson is being cross-examined by prosecution counsel, Toby Hedworth QC, who began by putting it to him that he consumed a large amount of drink before and after the encounter with the complainant.

Mr Jackson agreed that after the alleged rape, after just a few hours sleep, he and his friends started drinking again and continued the next day.

Counsel put it to Jackson that they agreed a story but not everyone could remember what they were supposed to say. Mr Jackson replied, “Not at all”.

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Mr Hedworth asked him if being a gifted sportsman, being involved in charitable work or being very drunk are defences to rape. Mr Jackson said they are not.

He agreed he remembers medical evidence from earlier in the trial that alcohol can lead people to do things they regret.

Mr Hedworth asked Mr Jackson about the exact meaning of the term “spitroast”. In the hours after the alleged rape Mr Jackson sent a message to his friends stating “there was a lot of spitroast going on.”

Counsel suggested this term means one male having vaginal sex with a woman while another male receives oral sex from her. Mr Jackson said it could mean this or it could mean one man using his fingers while another receives oral sex.

Mr Jackson denies he had vaginal sex with the woman.

He accepted his use of the term probably led his friends to believe vaginal sex had took place.

“The reality is on that night, you did, and you knew full well what you were doing, you did engage in a spitroast of the woman,” counsel said.

“A threesome or a spitroast, yes,” Mr Jackson replied.

Counsel put it to the accused he was playing “an interesting cat and mouse game” with the complainant and he followed her up to the bedroom that night.

Mr Jackson replied there was no game and that the woman followed him up, not the other way around.

Counsel suggested he followed her up thinking “I’m not going to take no for an answer this time.” Mr Jackson denied this.

Referring to Mr Olding coming into the room while the woman was performing oral sex on him, Mr Jackson denied being “hacked off” that her attention switched to Mr Olding.

Mr Hedworth suggested Mr Jackson penetrated the woman with his penis from behind and that this is what the witness Dara Florence saw when she opened the door. Jackson denied this.

Mr Jackson agreed the woman must have been upset when she left the house as Rory Harrison had to take her home but said he never saw her upset in the house.

He said that at lunch afterwards, Mr Harrison and Mr McIlroy did not mention the woman’s condition as she left the house. Mr Harrison did not tell him the woman had said “what happened last night was not consensual”. Counsel suggested this is a “blatant lie.”

Mr Jackson said he thinks his friends didn’t tell him because they didn’t think it was a big deal and they didn’t want to worry him. He said he is disappointed they didn’t tell him.

Mr Jackson denied he and his friends “closed ranks” against the woman.

“In behaving like that towards that young woman, trying to ram your hand up her, that was symptomatic of your attitude towards her that night,” counsel said.

“Well that didn’t happen so I can’t comment on what didn’t happen,” Mr Jackson replied.

Earlier, under cross-examination by Arthur Harvey QC, for Blane McIlroy, Mr Jackson said he had been friends with Mr McIlroy for many years and could think of no reason why he would tell lies.

Mr McIlroy’s counsel asked Mr Jackson about his evidence that he never saw Mr McIlroy in the room. Mr McIlroy told police he was in the room and received oral sex from the woman while Mr Jackson was there.

Mr Jackson agreed with counsel he was drunk and very tired by the end of the night. He said it was possible he could have been drifting in and out of consciousness when the complainant was leaving his bedroom.

Counsel put it to Mr Jackson that his client says Mr Jackson was doing something with the woman while she performed oral sex on Mr McIlroy.

“That didn’t happen,” Mr Jackson said, adding: “He wasn’t in the room”.

He said he could think of no reason for Mr McIlroy to lie about being in the room.

Under re-examination by his own counsel, Brendan Kelly QC, Mr Jackson was asked what he would have done if he knew the woman was alleging he had raped her.

He said he would have gone to police, hired a lawyer and tried to find out what had happened. He agreed that he went out drinking for two days instead.

There was no closing of ranks as far as Ulster rugby was concerned, he said. The club did not provide him with a solicitor.

Mr Jackson (26), of Oakleigh Park, Belfast has pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault at a party in his house. Mr Olding (24), of Ardenlee Street, Belfast, denies one count of rape on the same occasion. Both men contend the activity was consensual.

Blane McIlroy (26), of Royal Lodge Road, Ballydollaghan, Belfast, has pleaded not guilty to one count of exposure while Rory Harrison (25), from Manse Road, Belfast, pleaded not guilty to perverting the course of justice and withholding information relating to the incident.

Mr Jackson has now finished giving evidence.