Midlands gang rape trial hears medical evidence of 'recent trauma'

A doctor has told the trial of four men accused of raping a teenage girl “one after another” that findings from a medical examination of the girl were consistent with the possibility of non-consensual intercourse.

The four men, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have all pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping the then 17-year-old girl at a location in the midlands on December 27, 2016.

The first accused (22) has also pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault and one count of false imprisonment. The second accused (24) has also pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault, one count of oral rape and one count of false imprisonment.

The third accused (24) has also pleaded not guilty to an additional count of rape, two counts of sexual assault and one count of false imprisonment. The fourth accused (23) has also pleaded not guilty to three counts of sexual assault.

All of the offending is alleged to have been committed at various locations in the midlands on the same date against the same woman when the accused were aged between 17 and 19.

It is the prosecution case that the complainant got into a car with the men in the early hours of the morning and was driven to a location where the four accused and a fifth man not before the courts raped her “one after another”.

Giving evidence on Monday, March 21 a local doctor told Lorcan Staines SC, prosecuting, that she performed an examination on the complainant when she attended at a Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU) on December 27, 2016.

The doctor said the objective of SATU is to provide holistic care to people who have made allegations of sexual assault to gardaí and to obtain forensic evidence for gardaí. She said she had conducted hundreds of these type of examinations.

She said that during her examination of the complainant approximately five hours after the alleged incidents took place, she found there were two bruises on her right knee cap as well as dirt mark discolouration on both of her calves.

The doctor said that when examining the complainant's genitals, she found the labia majora were swollen and there was a laceration to the left labia majora. She said there was swelling to the lower half of the labia minora, bruising to the upper half of this area and bruising over the perineum.

She said the inner vaginal wall was red and was bleeding on contact, which was consistent with trauma to the vagina. She said there were also areas of bruising of different patches of the posterior vaginal wall.

The doctor said she took swabs of the complainant's genitals, the purpose of which was to seek bodily fluids or “effectively any DNA”. She said the complainant's clothes were also taken for examination.

She said her conclusion was that the findings of recent trauma were consistent with the possibility of non-consensual sexual intercourse.

The trial continues before Justice Tara Burns and a jury.