Almost posted this the other day, but obviously didn't, so there are two different articles here
(Obviously it's maybe less relevant because it's not our usual domain on here, but it is UK rather than ROI.)
Not the verdict I was expecting, though, after reading the first piece.
And not really easy to work out why the jury delivered the (unanimous) verdicts it did, at least by the usual standards of stuff like this...
But presumably the jury either thought the complainant was lying, or her recollection was sufficiently, er, faulty because of, er, stuff, to the extent that it wouldn't be safe to convict
And the latter dimension in particular is why I'm often a bit sceptical about cases like this...
Rape trial involving 38-year-old taxi driver begins at Derry Crown Court
https://www.derrynow.com/news/local-new ... court.html
The defendant Paul Francis O'Doherty from Farland Way in the Hazelbank area of the city, denies vaginally and orally raping the then 19-year-old woman and also denies two other charges of sexually assaulting her
A 38-year-old taxi driver has gone on trial at Derry Crown Court charged with raping a drunk female passenger in the back seat of his taxi in the city on the night of October 31, 2022.
The defendant Paul Francis O'Doherty from Farland Way in the Hazelbank area of the city, denies vaginally and orally raping the then 19-year-old woman and also denies two other charges of sexually assaulting her.
Opening the case to a jury of eight men and four women, prosecution barrister Geraldine McCullough KC said the defendant denied the allegations during three police interviews but when D.N.A. evidence linked him to forensic swabs taken from the complainant he made a defence statement that the sexual activity was initiated by and consented to by the complainant.
Ms. McCullough said the defendant was engaged to be married at the time of the allegations and "he was frightened of the consequences if made public". She said the forensic analyses of the swabs taken from the complainant showed that the D.N.A. linked the defendant to the incident by a ratio of one billion to one.
The prosecutor said the complainant, who was three and a half times over the legal alcohol limit for driving at the time of the alleged incidents, was dressed in a boxer's outfit on Halloween night and that her friends paid the defendant £10 to take her home.
She said in her statement to the police the complainant said the defendant stopped his taxi close to her home before he raped and sexually assaulted her.
Ms. McCullough said the complainant told the police that she froze, sobbed and cried during the alleged ordeal and tried to push the defendant away.
After the incident the defendant allegedly told the complainant "I know you enjoyed it" and asked her "if it was good".
The defendant allegedly threw the complainant's shoes and clothing out of his taxi and called her "no good".
The prosecutor said the following day the complainant told her girlfriend, her mother and her sister before reporting her allegations to the police.
When the allegations were put to the defendant he described them as "madness" and said he could not account for bruises and abrasions found on the complainant.
The prosecutor said in a defence statement, the defendant said the complainant fell off the rear seat in his taxi on the journey, hit her head off a Covid screen and refused to wear a seatbelt.
The defendant in his statement said the complainant said to him "stop the taxi, come into the back seat and I will give you a b*****b". He said she then unzipped his jeans and gave him oral sex.
The trial continues before Judge Neil Rafferty KC.
38-year-old Derry taxi driver found not guilty of rape of teen passenger
https://www.derrynow.com/news/local-new ... enger.html
Paul O'Doherty, a father of two from Farland Way in the Hazelbank area of Derry, was unanimously acquitted of two charges
A thirty-eight years old taxi driver has been found not guilty following a five day trial at the Crown Court in Derry of raping and of sexually assaulting a drunk female passenger in the back seat of his taxi on Halloween Night 2022.
Paul O'Doherty, a father of two from Farland Way in the Hazelbank area of Derry, was unanimously acquitted of two charges of orally and vaginally raping the nineteen years old woman and unanimously acquitted of two charges of sexually assaulting her after he'd collected her as a fare in the city centre.
The complainant had alleged that the defendant had carried out the sex assaults on her after he'd parked his taxi in a lay by close to her home.
The defendant, who told the jury of eight men and four women that he'd initially denied having any physical or sexual contact with the complainant in order to protect his fiancee, the mother of their two children, said that the complainant had initiated the sexual activity in his taxi. He said he regretted lying to the police during three interviews following his arrest.
The jurors were told that the complainant, who in her evidence said she was a lesbian, was found to have had three and a half times the legal alcohol limit for driving in her blood after she was medically examined following her allegations.
Traces of a cocaine cutting agent were also found in her system following the medical examination. In her police statement she alleged that the defendant had removed her clothing but in her evidence to the jury she said she'd taken off her clothing herself.
Following the jury's four not guilty verdicts, trial Judge Neil Rafferty K.C. addressed the defendant and said "Mr. O'Doherty you have been found not guilty and you are now free to go".
