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17/06/2008
Czech Cleared Of Rape
A Czech National accused of raping a Galway woman in 2007 has been acquitted by a jury following a nine day trial.
The 23 year old Czech man who has been held in custody for almost a year over the charge, denied raping and assaulting the 24 year-old woman on July 28, 2007. He had maintained during the trail that the pair had been engaged in consensual sex after she ran up to him in the street and kissed him but he stopped immediately when she suddenly said "wait I can't" and started crying.
A doctor who examined the complainant some hours after she alleged she was raped said he couldn't find any physical or genital trauma on her body but added that this didn't prove she wasn't raped.
Prosecution counsel, Ms Mary Ellen Ring SC said a garda forensics report indicated there was no semen found on swabs taken from the complainant's body and samples of her clothing.
The woman also denied during the trial that she had been "caught-out" in her claims that she had "pressed redial" on her phone "several times" during the alleged rape at about 1.30am.
Defence counsel Mr McGuinness noted that phone records obtained by the gardaí showed no calls were made on her phone from 1.30am when the CCTV footage showed her going to the accused and kissing him.
Mr McGuiness closed by saying the CCTV and phone log evidence was consistent with the defence's story and suggested the complainant had either "deliberately made a false allegation or garbled the whole thing up in your recollection".
(DW)
The 23 year old Czech man who has been held in custody for almost a year over the charge, denied raping and assaulting the 24 year-old woman on July 28, 2007. He had maintained during the trail that the pair had been engaged in consensual sex after she ran up to him in the street and kissed him but he stopped immediately when she suddenly said "wait I can't" and started crying.
A doctor who examined the complainant some hours after she alleged she was raped said he couldn't find any physical or genital trauma on her body but added that this didn't prove she wasn't raped.
Prosecution counsel, Ms Mary Ellen Ring SC said a garda forensics report indicated there was no semen found on swabs taken from the complainant's body and samples of her clothing.
The woman also denied during the trial that she had been "caught-out" in her claims that she had "pressed redial" on her phone "several times" during the alleged rape at about 1.30am.
Defence counsel Mr McGuinness noted that phone records obtained by the gardaí showed no calls were made on her phone from 1.30am when the CCTV footage showed her going to the accused and kissing him.
Mr McGuiness closed by saying the CCTV and phone log evidence was consistent with the defence's story and suggested the complainant had either "deliberately made a false allegation or garbled the whole thing up in your recollection".
(DW)
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