A DOCTOR who examined a woman who alleges she was raped and attacked by a teenage girl and two youths told a jury he found no bruising to her genital area.
The doctor was giving evidence on the second day of the trial at the Central Criminal Court of an 18-year-old girl, her 15-year-old brother, and their 18-year-old cousin.
All three accused deny raping and sexually assaulting the alleged victim (25) in a field on the morning of March 26th, 1994, after she left a nightclub in a Westmeath town. The accused also deny assaulting the woman, occasioning her actual bodily harm.
The doctor told Mr Justice Michael Moriarty and the jury he found scratches and bruising to the woman's arms, legs and chest. He agreed with Mr Seamus Sorahan SC, defending, that these injuries were consistent with her having walked through bushes.
A forensic scientist said items of the woman's clothing, including her bra and her shorts, were ripped. The clothing was recovered from the field where the rape allegedly happened. The scientist agreed her findings didn't link any of the accused to the alleged attack.
The elder male teenager was arrested in a nearby town five days after the alleged incident, a garda told the court.
Another garda witness said he was supervising a youths' disco in a local hall in the town on the night of March 25th, 1994. The disco was attended by a number of young people, including the two male accused and another youth.
The disco ended at about midnight. The garda told Ms Una McGurk, prosecuting, he passed the two accused males on the roadway while he was going home.
He said he became involved in the rape investigation later that morning and after searching a field near a factory he found clothes scattered around a flattened grassy area. He determined this was the scene of the alleged attack.
Another garda witness said she spoke to the alleged victim after she was brought to hospital. The woman told her she had been attacked by three male youths and a young woman. She also complained her jaw was sore, saying the woman attacker had hit her in the face.
The trial continues with legal argument in the absence of the jury.