Jury deliberations continue in midland gang rape trial today

The jury in the trial of four men accused of raping and sexually assaulting a teenage girl in a car will continue deliberating into a fourth day today.

In the early hours of the morning of December 27, 2016, the then 17-year-old girl got into a car with five men after she became separated from her friends at the end of a night-out in a midlands town.

The car then travelled along backroads to a remote location and it is alleged that all four defendants sexually assaulted her on the journey.

The car was driven to a remote location nearby and three of the defendants, and a fifth man who is not on trial, allegedly raped her at this location one after another.

The jury has heard that two of the defendants were later dropped off at a house back in the town and the car was driven to another location. The woman has said that she asked to be let out of the car but was ignored and that one man raped her for the second time at the same time as a fourth man forced his penis into her mouth.

The defendants, who were aged between 17 and 19 at the time, deny all the charges. Neither they nor the complainant can be identified in accordance with the 1981 Rape Act.

The jury began deliberations on Monday afternoon and have now deliberated for a little over eight hours.

The trial before Justice Tara Burns at the Central Criminal Court has run for 19 days so far.