Gardai reviewed 160 hours of CCTV into alleged rape of woman by three men

By Eimear Dodd

Gardai reviewed around 160 hours of CCTV as part of their investigation into the alleged rape and sexual assault of a woman by three men she met in a Dublin nightclub.

The three men, aged between 34 and 42, with addresses in Dublin and Wicklow, have pleaded not guilty to a total of seven counts of rape, oral rape and sexual assault of the woman at an unknown location in a car and in a Dublin house on August 31, 2019.

The men cannot be named for legal reasons. They deny any wrongdoing.

An investigating garda gave evidence that he and a colleague took the complainant in a patrol car on August 31, 2019 to see if she could identify the house, but she couldn’t positively pinpoint it.

He said that 160 hours of CCTV footage was collected and viewed by gardai during the investigation.

A 15-minute CCTV compilation was shown to the jury yesterday.

The footage shows the woman and the three accused men interacting in the nightclub, then walking from the venue to a car.

A garda analyst gave evidence that this compilation included CCTV clips from inside the nightclub, shown by the defence to the complainant when she was cross-examined.

The court heard CCTV was used to identify the vehicle and to trace its journey.

He told Padraig Dwyer SC, defending the first accused, that the CCTV compilation started when the woman and the three accused left the nightclub and he agreed that “in hindsight” their interactions in the club could have been included.

The investigating garda agreed with Karl Finnegan SC, prosecuting, that CCTV was used to identify the three accused men and to confirm that the car was a Volkswagen SUV.

The court heard that it later transpired that the second accused man is the registered owner of this vehicle.

The witness outlined that a CCTV compilation is created during investigations to “streamline” the process of interviewing any accused person.

He said all of the CCTV was provided to the Director of Public Prosecutions as part of the investigation file, and later disclosed to the defence.

During cross-examination earlier in the trial, the complainant gave evidence that she hadn’t seen the CCTV footage until she came to court.

The garda witness told Mr Finnegan that he would never show CCTV to a complainant in case the matter went to court, as he’d be worried their recollections may be influenced by CCTV, and their evidence would not be a “sterile” account.

During cross-examination, Mr Dwyer suggested there was “scope” in the investigation to show the CCTV from the nightclub to the complainant.

The garda witness disagreed. “I would be concerned showing the complainant [CCTV] might affect her account.

As she said she didn’t remember any of this, she might give evidence based on what she saw on CCTV rather than recalled.”

Mr Dwyer suggested that the woman could have been asked to identify herself on the CCTV footage and that she still could have given a “sterile” account of the night.

The garda said this was not necessary as she was identifiable on CCTV.

The witness told Mr Dwyer that CCTV was compiled for use during an interview with an accused person, when they would be asked to comment on it.

The garda witness said it’s not “feasible” for all CCTV to be played during an interview due to time constraints.

He explained that a 15-minute compilation of CCTV footage can take an hour or more to discuss during an interview.

The garda also noted any decisions about material shown in court is made by the prosecution and defence.

Asked by Mr Justice Paul Burns to clarify if gardai considered putting together a new CCTV compilation for court, the witness said they hadn’t.

The garda also disagreed with Mr Dwyer’s suggestion there was a delay between the alleged incident in August 2019 and when the accused men were interviewed in September 2020.

He said in the circumstances of this case, he wanted to gather as much evidence as possible before interview.

Earlier in the trial, the complainant gave evidence that she believed she may been drugged in the club.

She told the jury she recalled a “bag of white powder “ in her vicinity, but couldn’t recall if she took any.

During cross-examination by counsel for the first and third accused men, the garda witness confirmed that the nightclub CCTV was reviewed, and no evidence of the woman taking or being provided a white powder was identified.

The garda also said no evidence was seen of the accused men handing her a drink.

The investigating garda also outlined it is “not uncommon” in cases of this kind for complainants to need some time after making their initial complaint to make a formal statement.

The woman made a formal statement on September 9, 2019.

In other evidence, the jury heard that a number of searches were carried out in December 2019, with items seized including mobile phones and the Volkswagen SUV registered to the second accused man.

The first man, aged 39 with an address in Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to one count of raping the woman in his home address and not guilty to one count of oral rape and one count of sexually assaulting her in a car.

The second man, aged 42 with an address in Wicklow, has pleaded not guilty to one count of raping the woman in the car and one count of raping her in the house.

The third man, aged 34 with an address in Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to orally raping the woman in the house and sexually assaulting her in the car.

The trial continues.