Rape conviction of Laois man quashed on appeal

A Laois man who was jailed less than three months ago for raping a friend on wasteland on Halloween night when they were both teenagers has had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal.

The conviction was overturned after the Court of Appeal allowed the introduction of new evidence into the case that had not been available to the defence at the trial in the form of a post-trial affidavit from a then 14-year-old friend of the complainant.

Barrister for the now 20-year-old appellant, Ronan Munro SC, submitted to the court that there was no apparent reason at the trial to suspect that there could be potentially important evidence to come from the girl, who was briefly mentioned. She had not been sought during what counsel submitted was a "defective" Garda investigation.

Mr Munro said that the girl who claimed she met the complainant on the night had made a sworn affidavit to gardaí of her encounter with the complainant after she learned of his unanimous jury conviction in June of this year.

Mr Munro said the affidavit states that the friend of the girl raised the question of previous sexual encounters between the defendant and the complainant, that the complainant had expressed her sexual desire towards the defendant to the girl before the alleged rape and that this should have been put in front of the jury at trial.

Lawyers for the State had argued at the Court of Appeal that the evidence related only to collateral issues already tested at the trial in the case and that no-one else had observed what happened between both parties.

However, the three-judge court ruled against the State, who were also denied an opportunity to cross-examine the girl in the confines of the appeal motion, saying that both the new evidence and any cross examination in the case was a matter for a jury.

In quashing the conviction at the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said the evidence was both potentially relevant and admissible. He said the court found it could be put before a jury "merely on a matter of principle", even if that evidence was to be found to be solely collateral, as argued by the prosecution.

The Court of Criminal Appeal overturned the conviction on Monday evening.