Three men have been convicted of the rape and sexual assault of a woman they met in a Dublin nightclub almost six years ago. The three men had pleaded not guilty to a total of seven counts of rape , oral rape and sexual assault of the woman at an unknown location in a car and in a Dublin house on August 31, The jury of eight men and four women returned guilty verdicts today on six of the seven charges after a total of 13 hours of deliberation.
Anthony Hickey 39 of Ballyogan Square, Carrickmines, Dublin 18, was convicted of rape, oral rape and sexual assault by a majority verdict. Hickey had pleaded not guilty to one count of raping the woman in his then-home address in Ballyogan and not guilty to one count of oral rape and one count of sexually assaulting her in a car. Fabio Vicente 42 with an address at Little Newtown, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow , was convicted of two counts of rape by a majority verdict of the jury.
He had pleaded not guilty to one count of raping the woman in the car and one count of raping her in the house. Matin Zolfaghari 34 of Marley Court, Rathfarnham, Co Dublin, was convicted of oral rape by a majority verdict, and acquitted of sexual assault. He had pleaded not guilty to orally raping the woman in the house and sexually assaulting her in the car. Mr Justice Paul Burns thanked jurors for their care and attention to this "particularly difficult case. Remanding the three men in custody, he adjourned the case until March 10 for sentence and directed the preparation of a victim impact statement.
After the court rose, the three men appeared shocked, then hugged family members before they were taken into custody. Giving evidence from behind plastic screens attached to the side of the witness box, the woman said she and her housemate went for some drinks before going to the nightclub in the early hours of August 31, She said they were dancing and she had "silly chat" with a group of men, possibly three or four.
She told Karl Finnegan SC, prosecuting, that things started to become "faded and hazy" after her housemate left. She recalled a "bag of white powder in the vicinity", but couldn't remember if she took any. Her first recollection after leaving the nightclub was sitting in the back of a vehicle, which she thought was a taxi. A man was sitting with her and three others were also in the car. Her memory of this time was "hazy" but "I remember a male being on top of me.
