Outrage after Irish rape case focuses on teen's choice of underwear

The case sparked fury in Ireland, with thousands of women sharing images of their underwear on Twitter. Photo / 123rf

Hundreds of protesters have marched through Irish cities after a lawyer argued that an alleged rape victim's choice of underwear meant the teenage girl had consented to sex.

The demonstrations in Dublin, Cork and Limerick followed the acquittal of a 27-year-old man after his lawyer told jurors that the teenage complainant "was wearing a thong with a lace front".

The case sparked fury in Ireland, with thousands of women sharing images of their underwear on Twitter and the hashtag #thisisnotconsent in the aftermath of the verdict.

The man, who was acquitted by a jury at Cork's Central Criminal Court on November 5, denied raping the 17-year-old girl in a lane in the city.

Elizabeth O'Connell, the defence counsel, reportedly asked jurors: "Does the evidence outrule the possibility that she was attracted to the defendant and was open to meeting someone and being with someone? You have to look at the way she was dressed. She was wearing a thong with a lace front."

A jury of eight men and four women acquitted the man unanimously after deliberating for 90 minutes, the Irish Examiner reported.

O'Connell's comments drew condemnation from women's rights groups and sparked calls to change the way rape trials are conducted in Ireland.

On Tuesday, protests reached Ireland's parliament, the Dail, where Ruth Coppinger, a member for Dublin West, produced a blue thong during a debate.

"It might seem embarrassing to show a pair of thongs here... how do you think a rape victim or a woman feels at the incongruous setting of her underwear being shown in a court," she asked fellow parliamentarians.

Coppinger led a protest march through Dublin city centre under the slogan "end victim blaming in the courts".

Meanwhile, about 200 protesters marched through the centre of Cork to lay underwear on the steps of the court where the trial had been held.

Noeline Blackwell, the head of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, told the Irish Independent: "The reference to the girl's underwear and the assumption and inference that the jury was being invited to draw - that because she was dressed like that she was asking for sex - does not surprise us.

"It comes up very, very regularly how someone was dressed, the amount of drink they had taken, why they hadn't screamed if they were in trouble.

"These kind of mythologies and stereotypes around rape come up again and again in court cases, because the defence to rape is that the sex was consensual.

"So anything the defendant can do to suggest there was consent will be used," she said.

Protesters place underwear on the steps of the courthouse in #Cork city during #thisisnotconsent protest pic.twitter.com/pY4Dk9dIc8

— Fiona Corcoran (@fiona96fmnews) November 14, 2018

Charlie Flanagan, Ireland's minister for justice and equality, said he was open to the notion of changing the law on the conduct of rape trials but he would wait for the findings of a review group before making a decision.

"If there's legislative change necessary then I'd be very keen and I'd set about doing that," he said.

"But I believe it's more about the practice and procedure, particularly in the case that you mentioned," Flanagan told the Irish Examiner.

"I don't like to comment on individual cases, but it was a woman barrister who posed the question in that particular case."