Man cleared of rape claim shouts ‘scumbag’ at garda

THE man found not guilty of raping a student he met on the Tinder dating app shouted, ‘you stitch-up scumbag’ at a garda after the court case.

Earlier, just after the jury verdict was read out, the 35-year-old Dublin man responded by pressing his hands together in a praying gesture and saying: ‘Thank you, thank you so much.’

A female cousin then began to cry and hugged him and a female juror also began crying.

The complainant burst into tears and was comforted by her parents in the back of the courtroom.

When Judge Paul Butler said the man was free to go on this matter, Prosecutor Cathleen Noctor BL said he was in custody on other matters.

He was alleged to have raped the university student in his car after driving her up to the Dublin Mountains. He pleaded not guilty, at the Central Criminal Court, to rape at Kilmashogue Lane, Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin, on September 11, 2014.

And on day seven of the trial, the jury of six men and six women returned a verdict of not guilty after just over four hours of deliberations.

After the jury left the court the defendant singled out one of the investigating gardaí and shouted: ‘You stitch-up scumbag. I’ll get you again. You stitch-up c***”.

He was then led away by prison officers.

The jury heard that the two met days after they began communicating on Tinder and they went for a drive together.

The complainant alleged he drove them to an unlit country road. The man told gardaí that they had consensual sex without a condom and he suggested she made up the rape allegation because she was annoyed about the unprotected sex.

The court heard that in the 36 hours after the alleged rape, the woman had chatted with six men on Tinder, and she told one of them she had ‘a naughty side’. Michael Bowman SC, defending, said the evidence that the woman was distressed after the date meant nothing.

‘Was she equally as upset when she was texting on Tinder? Is she as distressed as she presents to the outside world?’ he said.

The jury heard evidence that texts to and from the accused on Tinder and Whatsapp were deleted by the complainant.

It was also suggested by the defence that if it had not been possible to retrieve the deleted texts, the accused would be convicted ‘in a heartbeat’.

The woman said the pair agreed to meet for ‘a spin and a coffee’ and he suggested a drive to the mountains and after a brief kissing session she asked him to ‘take it easy’ but he said: ‘What the f*** do you think we’re here for?’

She got out of the car and tried to ring a friend but there was no signal, it was alleged. Then he returned and she got back in the car because she felt she didn’t have a choice.

He drove the car back to where they had been and began kissing her again and moved quickly to get on top of her before raping her, it was alleged.

In his closing speech, Michael Bowman SC, defending, said that gardaí in the case formed a view that ‘here is a terribly nice young girl up from the country who wouldn’t dare tell a lie’.

He said that they didn’t test her account properly.

‘No effort made to critically analyse what she had said or cross reference her texts with the statement made to gardaí,’ he said. The jury heard evidence that texts to and from the accused on Tinder and Whatsapp had been deleted.

‘Having deleted the texts she thought they were gone for good. She thought that gave her free rein to characterise [the accused] any way she wanted,’ he said.

‘How lucky, how blessed is he that there is a capacity to retrieve deleted texts,’ he said, adding that without this evidence his client would be ‘convicted in a heartbeat’.

A cousin cried and hugged him