Overview

• At today’s hearing, the Public Prosecution Service requested three years in prison and argued the defendant committed intentional rape, citing the public setting, bystander intervention and recorded footage.
• The 28-year-old defendant, identified as S., told judges he is guilty of rape but said he remembers nothing, adding that he should have checked for consent and that he never intended sex against the woman’s will.
• Through her lawyer, the Irish complainant said she was found unconscious in the street and has no memory of events, stressing that consent cannot exist when someone is drunk or asleep and must be continuous.
• Prosecutors said the woman was in a state where she could not determine her will, describing the episode as an “absolute nightmare,” and asserted the defendant exploited her incapacity.
• Legal experts note the June 2024 law puts the onus on initiators to ensure consent and distinguishes intentional from negligence-based rape, making the forthcoming verdict closely watched.