Woman denies 'watering down' rugby interest at rape trial

Image captionStuart Olding (left) and Paddy Jackson deny the charges

The woman who has accused two Ulster rugby players of raping her has denied "watering down" her interest in rugby and rugby players.

Earlier in the trial, she said she did not follow rugby and had never been to an Ulster rugby match.

Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding deny raping the woman in a house in south Belfast in June 2016.

On Friday a defence barrister quizzed her on her interest in rugby.

Brendan Kelly QC asked her: "Have you watered down either your following of rugby or your knowledge of the people who play it?"

'I've not watered down anything'

She replied: "Not at all, Mr Kelly."

She added: "I've not watered down anything."

Today, on day five of the trial, the jury was shown a second police interview which the woman gave after the alleged attack.

She talked about the moment another woman briefly came into the bedroom during the alleged attack.

Image copyrightPACEMAKER

Image captionBlane McIlroy (left) and Rory Harrison both deny the charges against them

She said: "The door opened and I turned round, saw it was a girl and turned back round again."

The woman added: "She walked in and said: 'Oh.'"

She added: "Paddy actually asked her if she wanted to join in."

She said that there were a number of other women back at Paddy Jackson's house on the night of the alleged attack, but they were not her friends - she had only just met them.

She said she was worried that one of them had taken a photograph of her in the bedroom.

The woman at the centre of the case was 19 at the time of the alleged attack. She is now 21.

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Image captionPaddy Jackson and Stuart Olding have both been capped for Ireland

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.

Two other men have also been charged in connection with the case.

Blane McIlroy, 26, of Royal Lodge Road, Belfast, is charged with one count of exposure. He 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.

The 12-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.