Acquittal in Irish Rugby Rape Case Deepens Debate on Sexual Consent

DUBLIN — The nine-week rape trial of two rising stars of Irish professional rugby transfixed, and at times horrified, public opinion on both sides of Ireland’s border. Their acquittal in March was supposed to calm emotions and allow divisions to heal.

Instead, weeks after the players — Paddy Jackson, 26, an Irish international and Ulster provincial player; and Stuart Olding, 25, who also played for Ireland and Ulster — walked free from Laganside Courts in Belfast, the furor continues over what some describe as a toxic male culture in elite sport, and acrimonious debates still rage over differing views on sexual consent.

On Saturday, the players’ rugby contracts were canceled, ending their professional careers in Ireland, with some expressing fear that the move would further inflame public opinion.

The decision to sack the two players came amid commercial sponsors’ concerns that the men’s return would damage the image of a sport that has grown in popularity in recent years — not least among Irish women.

Supporters say they are adamant that since the two men were cleared in the sexual assault case, they should be allowed to play professional rugby again.

But for many — like Louise O’Neill, the Irish journalist and author whose international best-selling novel “Asking for It” addresses issues of consent and rape — the original verdict was shocking and traumatizing.

“Whether they honestly think she consented or not, I’ve never met a young woman before who left a consensual sexual experience in tears and bleeding, and for that alone,” O’Neill said, “I don’t think they should be allowed to put on the green jersey again.”

The Ulster case began when a 19-year-old woman said she was raped in June 2016 at a party at Jackson’s home. In a text to a friend a day after the house party, she appeared intimidated by the prospect of facing down the men she had accused: “I’m not going to the police. I’m not going up against Ulster Rugby. Yea, because that’ll work.”

Jackson and Olding were charged with rape and sexual assault. The trial centered on whether the woman had consented to the acts performed on her, and on the sometimes contradictory accounts of what had been done, and by whom, on a night fueled by alcohol.

Olding said he had consensual oral sex with the woman, but both men denied having had vaginal sex with her. A taxi driver who took her home testified that she had been “sobbing throughout the journey” and that he saw blood on the back of her white jeans. A doctor told the court that he had observed a laceration in her bleeding vagina. But defense experts argued that this was not proof of rape or even that she had sex.

The young woman spent eight days on the witness stand being questioned by each of the defendants’ lawyers. She sat in court while her underwear was passed around for the jury to examine. Defense lawyers cited testimony that said the young woman did not physically resist or scream for help from other women downstairs.

The criminal law in Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, is based on the principle that guilt must be proven beyond reasonable doubt. And after a grueling trial, the two players — and two of their friends who had been charged with lesser offenses — were unanimously cleared by a jury of eight men and three women after less than four hours of deliberation.

On the steps of the courthouse, Jackson’s lawyer, Joe McVeigh, strongly criticized the complainant and police for taking the case. Olding, speaking through his lawyer, maintained that everything had been consensual but said: “I am sorry for the hurt that was caused to the complainant.”

But anti-rape and women’s rights activists said that some of the evidence produced in court, particularly private WhatsApp messages sent among the young men and their friends, had raised disturbing questions about the attitude of some Irish men toward sex, consent and women in general.

Court records showed that after the party, Olding posted a message — “We are all top shaggers” — to a private WhatsApp group that included Jackson. The group exchanged boastful, abusive and misogynistic messages that appeared to refer to the young woman, including, “Mate no jokes she was in hysterics.” One member of the group concluded a graphic exchange with “Legends!! … Why are we all such legends?”

Defense lawyers argued that the comments were exaggerated boyish banter. But those remarks, and the vitriol unleashed by some of the men’s supporters against the woman, whose identity is protected in Northern Ireland’s legal system, were condemned.

After the verdict, some called for her to be named and said she should be punished for trying to ruin the lives of innocent young men.

Luke Rossiter, a semiprofessional player with Drogheda United soccer team in the Irish Republic, called on Twitter for her to be “locked up” and directed obscene abuse at women who had supported her. He later apologized for his “stupid and immature” comments and vowed to donate his wages for the rest of the season to a rape crisis center. Willie John McBride, a celebrated former player for the Ireland rugby team, which represents both parts of the island, gave the players more measured support on a Dublin-based radio show this past week.

“The guys have come through a very traumatic couple of months where they’ve virtually been tried on television every day, walking in and out of the court,” he said, adding, “It is time they were back playing rugby again.”

The verdict failed to quell the anger of supporters of the young woman and survivors of sexual violence, who continued to rally under the hashtag #ibelieveher.

The following week, Jackson put out a more contrite statement: “I am ashamed that a young woman who was a visitor to my home left in a distressed state. This was never my intention, and I will always regret the events of that evening.”

Cara Cash-Marley, chief executive of Nexus, a rape counseling service in Northern Ireland, said the trial had again exposed the onerous burden of proof placed on those who brought sexual assault complaints.

She said complainants should be allowed to record their evidence when it is fresh in their minds, rather than be expected to repeat it many times over — and finally to be aggressively cross-examined in court years later. Cliona Saidlear, executive director of Rape Crisis Network Ireland, said the case may have spurred a new willingness to re-examine prevailing attitudes about sex and consent. “There is a macho culture in sport, and a hookup culture,” she said. “And we have to say, just because it is this way, does it have to be that way?”

But a recent episode hinted at the hurdles still remaining. In Belfast this past week, the Malone rugby club said that it was investigating a photograph that had emerged of two players simulating sex acts with a trophy cup, the names of Jackson and Olding stuck to their torsos.