A rally was held in downtown Cork to protest against the use of underwear for a teenage girl in the alleged rape case.
A male lawyer who raped a teenager in a city in southwestern Ireland on behalf of a man said that the jury in the case should reflect the underwear worn by the 17-year-old girl.
The 27-year-old man, who denied the rape of a woman in a lane in Cork, was found guilty by a jury of eight men and four women from the Central Criminal Court.
According to the Irish examiner, in her closing speech, senior lawyer Elizabeth O’Connell told the jury that they should consider the lady wearing a thong with lace.
“Is the evidence beyond the possibility that she is attracted to the accused and willing to meet someone and be with someone? You have to look at how she is wearing. She is wearing a thong with lace,” she said.
Rosa (representing reproductive rights, oppression, gender discrimination and austerity) The socialist feminist movement held a protest outside Cork’s Brown Thomas on Wednesday at 1 pm to express their anger at the mention of youth underwear.
“Unfortunately, these personality allegations and victim accusations are a common strategy used in court cases of violent trials. The judiciary has repeatedly proved that it will completely harm the survivors of sexual violence to seek justice,” the organization The event’s Facebook page said in a statement.
“We joined our Cork on Wednesday for a lunchtime rally, demanding urgent action to eliminate victim accusations and rape culture in the justice sector! Spread the word!”
In March last year, the organization participated in a series of protests across the country, demonstrating their support for victims of sexual violence. This was acquitted after the trials of the high-profile royal courts of Irish and Ulster rugby players Paddy Jackson and Stewart Olding, who raped a 19-year-old woman in 2016.
Noeline Blackwell, head of the Dublin Rape Crisis Center, said she was not surprised by the attention of teenage girls’ underwear.
“The mention of girl underwear and the assumptions and inferences that the jury was invited to participate in – because she dresses like she asks to make love – doesn’t surprise us,” she said last week.
“We accompany people to the courts, and we have been seeing rape stereotypes used to discredit the complainant and enforce the content of the accused case.”
Ms. Blackwell, a human rights lawyer, believes that juries are influenced by stereotypes about rape, which permeate society and call for more judicial guidance to alleviate this situation.
“This terrible story just shows that this is not the case. As is often said, if survivors say the truth, there is nothing to worry about, because anything they have done, said or passed will eventually be used. To oppose them in court, “Sisters Uncut, a spokesperson for the feminist direct action organization, told the Independent.
“This is one of the reasons we are so concerned about the excessive collection and disclosure of personal data by CPS in rape cases, as it provides more opportunities for accusations of such victims. In this case, underwear can easily become text, call A record or calendar entry that can be used to claim that the survivor “requires it.”
In her closing speech, Ms. O’Connell considered the incident to be mutually agreed. The consent problem dominated the case, and the girl told the man: “You just raped me,” the man said. “No, we just have sex.”
Tom Creed SC defended the jury: “She knows very well that she disagrees. She said she has never had sexual intercourse before.”
Critics condemned the barrister’s comments on her underwear on social media – accusing her victims of accusing.
