A Co Kildare man has lost his appeal against his conviction for the rape of a young woman, his sister's best friend, at a GAA ground three years ago.
Michael O'Neill (25), a father of one, from Bishopsland, Kildare, was jailed for eight years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court last May for the rape of the then 18-year-old woman on March 7th, 2004, at St Brigid's Park, the home of Round Towers GAA club, in Kildare.
At the Court of Criminal Appeal, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, with Mr Justice John MacMenamin and Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne, heard O'Neill's appeal against conviction.
After hearing submissions for O'Neill and submissions from the DPP against the appeal, the court adjourned to consider its decision. When it resumed, Mr Justice Kearns said the court would dismiss the appeal and give its reasons for doing so at a later date.
Earlier, Brendan Grehan SC, for O'Neill, argued that the trial judge had erred in relation to the admissibility of a written questions and answers session between O'Neill and gardaí investigating the rape allegations.
During the trial, counsel for the defence sought only to have sections of that memo ruled inadmissible but Mr Justice Carney ruled that the entire memo was not to be put before the jury. The effect was to put the defence at a disadvantage and it had effectively "sandbagged" them.
Opposing the appeal, Pauline Walley SC, for the DPP, said there was no error in principle in fully excluding the memorandum.
In April 2005, a jury of two women and 10 men returned a 10-2 verdict of guilty against O'Neill following an eight-day trial.
The trial was told the rape occurred as O'Neill and his victim were walking home from a disco. He had threatened "to snap" the woman's neck and had asked her "if she wanted to die".
Following O'Neill's conviction the victim told the court she wanted him named for the protection of others.
She said the rape had fractured her friendship with O'Neill's sister although they tried to remain friends.