ONE OF THREE men accused of the sexual assault and rape of a woman they met in a Dublin nightclub told gardaí he thought it was a “normal night” and denied the allegations.

The three men, aged between 34 and 42, with addresses in Dublin and Wicklow, have pleaded not guilty to a total of seven counts of rape, oral rape and sexual assault of the woman at an unknown location in a car and in a Dublin house on 31 August, 2019.

The men, who can’t be named for legal reasons, deny any wrongdoing.

Yesterday, the jury heard evidence relating to searches of the men’s address and that items including phones were seized by gardaí.

Today, evidence was given of a Whatsapp chat between the first accused and the third man on 9 September 2019, which were recovered from the phone belonging to the first accused. During this exchange, the first man wrote, “send me that clip of your one”.

The third man asked “which one” and the first accused replied with the nightclub’s name.

Two video clips were then sent by the third accused man to the first accused, who replied, “listen to you laughing after she says no”.

These clips were played for the jury. Nothing was visible, but a female voice could be heard to say ‘no’ several times during a 30-second clip.

An investigating garda told the court he believed a male voice could also be heard saying: “Stick it up her arse”.

The second clip is six seconds long and no words are audible.

The investigating garda agreed with Padraig Dwyer SC, defending the first man, that there are no allegations of anal rape against any of the accused men in this case.

The garda also accepted a suggestion from Garret Baker SC, representing the second man, that the 30 second-clip was possibly recorded in a car, while the second clip was made in a different location. 

The court heard these exchanges were not found on a phone seized from the third man and it appeared a different phone or number may have been used.

Evidence was also heard that gardaí can’t say the time that each video was recorded or the order in which they were recorded on 31 August, 2019.  This material was not found on a phone belonging to the second man.

The investigating garda told the court that he was contacted by a solicitor representing the three accused men shortly after searches were carried out in December 2019, who advised his clients were willing to be interviewed. Arrangements were later made for the three men to attend separate garda stations to be interviewed in September 2020.

Memos from interviews with the first accused man were read to the jury. The court heard the man provided a DNA swab and his solicitor was present during his three interviews.

At one point, the man told gardai that he “thought it was a normal night”. “I can’t believe this is what I’m accused of doing.”

The first accused man told gardaí that he went to the nightclub with the other two accused and another person. He saw the complainant there but didn’t speak to her until they were at the second man’s SUV.

The man said there was some friendly conversation at the SUV. He said they – the three men and the woman – initially drove to the home of the third man hoping to have an afterparty.

The first man said he remained in the car with the second accused and the woman. He said the woman told him she wanted to party and was “rubbing” his arm and stomach.

He said he asked her “do you want to party with us” and she agreed. He then asked her for a kiss and they kissed.

The first accused said the third man returned and they drove away from this home. The second accused then suggested they leave the woman at a nearby taxi rank, but she didn’t want to go home.

He asked her for another kiss and they kissed again.

He said the SUV parked while he continued to kiss the woman. He then performed oral sex on her. He said the woman and the third accused kissed at the same time.

He said the second man then got into the back of the vehicle, and kissed the woman, before they had sex.

The first man said the woman performed oral sex on him while having sex with the second man.

He told gardaí that he understood the meaning of consent and that the woman didn’t do anything to indicate she was withdrawing consent at any point.

He said he suggested they all go to his house. When they arrived, he said he went inside with the second man. The woman and the third man followed them inside shortly afterwards.

He said the second accused and the woman had sex in his bedroom. He said he also kissed the woman and she performed oral sex on him, then on the third man.

The first accused said he then asked the woman for sex and she agreed, but she later refused his request for anal sex. He said she performed oral sex on the other two men while they were having vaginal sex.

He said the woman asked to stay over after the other two men left and they slept in the same bed.

The first man said there was some conversation when they woke the next morning about booking a taxi. When gardaí put to him to the woman’s statement that she rushed from the house, he insisted that he woke her to tell her to leave.

He said he walked the woman to his front door, gave her a kiss, then saw her get into a taxi outside his home.

He told gardaí that he couldn’t remember texting with the two other accused about that night, but accepted it was possible.

During interview, the man was shown CCTV footage in which he identified himself. Extracts from the woman’s statement were also read to him.

The man said he was “100% shocked, I  can’t believe what is being said”, later adding, “what she is saying happened is wrong”.

He said he would “never agree” with her account of the night, later describing it as “100% not true”.

He denied that the woman hadn’t consented to sexual activity or that she was too intoxicated to consent.

When shown the two video clips, the man suggested the 30-second clip was recorded when he asked the woman for anal sex, but that it was a small part of a longer period.

Later, he said he had similar experiences with other women and had “never been accused by anyone of doing anything”.

He described messages exchanged with the third accused as “boys being boys [which] might come across crude”.

The investigating garda agreed with Mr Dwyer during cross-examination that his client had no access to any evidence before the interview. It was further accepted that the first man engaged with the interview process and was co-operative.

The garda also told Mr Dwyer that he was unable to locate one former occupant who had lived in the same house as the first man in 2019.

The first man, aged 39 with an address in Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to one count of raping the woman in his home address and not guilty to one count of oral rape and one count of sexually assaulting her in a car.

The second man, aged 42 with an address in Wicklow, has pleaded not guilty to one count of raping the woman in the car and one count of raping her in the house.

The third man, aged 34 with an address in Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to orally raping the woman in the house and sexually assaulting her in the car.

The trial continues.