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STEPHEN DAVISON
Blane McIlroy is charged with one count of exposure
A friend of the two Ulster rugby players accused of rape today denied telling a “pack of lies” about the case in court.
Blane McIlroy, 26, of Royal Lodge Road, Belfast, is charged with exposing himself to the young woman at the home of Paddy Jackson in the early hours of June 28, 2016.
He denies the charge.
Earlier on Friday, Mr McIlroy told the court the alleged victim described the night as a “one-night stand”.
His version of events was challenged by a prosecution barrister, who described parts of what he said in court as “preposterous” and “fantasy island”.
Mr McIlroy said he was involved in sexual activity with the then 19-year-old woman and at no time did she resist or ask him to stop.
He said before she left the house that night, she said: “I don’t usually have one-night stands.”
After sitting in the dock listening to the evidence for the past six weeks, Mr McIlroy entered the witness box for the first time just before 12:30 GMT.
Dressed in a white shirt, purple tie and dark suit, he was asked a series of questions by his defence barrister.
Mr McIlroy said that on the night in question, he noticed that Mr Jackson and one of the women who was in the house were no longer in the living room.
He said he texted him: “Is there any possibility of a threesome?”
He got no reply.
Around 10 minutes later, he said he decided to go upstairs to sleep. He said he went into Mr Jackson’s room and found him in bed with the woman.
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STEPHEN DAVISON
Paddy Jackson arriving at court on Friday
He said after talking for a while, he and the woman started kissing. He said she put her hand down his trousers and, at one stage, briefly performed oral sex on him.
He said he left the room to try to find some condoms. He said it was the woman who suggested it.
When he came back, the woman was getting dressed and it was at that stage that, according to him, she said: “I don’t usually have one-night stands.”
At the time, Mr McIlroy had just returned from America where he had been studying.
Paddy Jackson, Stuart Olding, Blane McIlroy and Rory Harrison deny all the charges
A prosecution barrister put it to the court that Mr McIlroy and his friends together produced a false defence.
“You gave Stuart Olding’s version of events. You thought your job was to give this version,” he said.
He added: “It’s all come apart at the seams, this ‘put-up job of a defence’.”
Mr McIlroy replied: “That’s not correct.”
‘Pack of lies’
The prosecution later said: “You delivered the wrong lines, you put yourself there rather than Stuart Olding.”
Mr McIlroy said: “No, I told the police everything. The truth.”
The barrister later said: “This is a pack of lies, Mr McIlroy.”
Mr McIlroy said: ” No, it’s not.”
The court was also told that Blane McIlroy deleted a number of text messages before being interviewed by the police.
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STEPHEN DAVISON
Mr Olding denies one charge of rape
He told the court: “When the police phoned, I panicked. I thought they didn’t read well.”
Mr Jackson and fellow Ulster and Ireland player Stuart Olding are accused of raping the woman.
They all went back to the house in south Belfast with a group of people after a night out at Ollie’s nightclub.
Mr Jackson, 26, from Belfast’s Oakleigh Park, is charged with one count of rape and one count of sexual assault. He denies the charges.
Mr Olding, 24, from Ardenlee Street, Belfast, is also charged with rape. He too denies the charge.
Rory Harrison, 25, of Manse Road, Belfast, is charged with perverting the course of justice and withholding information. He denies the charge.
Paddy Jackson’s defence barrister Brendan Kelly QC has now closed his case on behalf of Mr Jackson.
The trial will resume on Saturday morning and will sit between 09:00 and 12.30 GMT.
The 11-person jury has been told by Judge Patricia Smyth to wait until they hear all of the evidence in the case before coming to any final conclusions.