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The trial of an unnamed Irish celebrity charged with defilement of an underage girl today continued at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
The trial, which has been ongoing since Tuesday, today heard that the Gardaí seized nine mobile phones during the search of the entertainment figure’s home.
The man, aged 40, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of engaging in sexual acts with an underage girl, who was under the age of 17, at three locations in Dublin between August and December 2010. The man has pleaded not guilty to all three counts.
Giving evidence to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday, a garda witness told Eilis Brennan SC, prosecuting, that he was present when a search of the man’s home was carried out on June 7th 2021.
The garda said that five iPhones, along with four Huawei phones were seized for examination following the search, with the man providing the lock codes to all phones. The garda witness said he agreed with defence barrister Morgan Shelley that it was helpful that his client had supplied the PIN numbers for the phones.
During today’s trial, an expert witness testified before the court that four of the nine phones seized during the search needed specialist repairs before they could be examined. It was revealed that of those four mobiles, data could only be extracted from three of the devices.
In total, data was extracted from eight out of nine of the man’s phones, with Shelley telling the court that a hard drive extracted from the phones was disclosed to the defence last month, and that additional evidence for the trial was given to the defence this morning.
A detective sergeant meanwhile, told the court that she had become aware of the sexual allegations against the man in March 2021, adding that she was granted a warrant in June of 2021 to carry out a search of the man’s house.
Shelley, defending, pointed out to the witness that the judge had not been informed of the nature of the client’s work when a search warrant had been sought. The witness said, however, that she “wouldn’t ordinarily outline someone’s profession” when applying for a warrant and that it didn’t bear relevance to the investigation. The witness also confirmed she did not give information about the man’s profession to the judge at the time.
The court heard how the man was on his own in his apartment when the detective sergeant and four other members of An Garda Síochána carried out the search warrant. The witness told the court she had told the man what the nature of the allegation against him was, and cautioned him.
A separate garda who attended the search said that the man informed gardaí that he had old phones, and showed them where they were. According to the garda, the accused “enquired about the allegation” and was informed of the allegation that had been made.
According to the witness, the man responded by saying: “I know her”.
On Wednesday, the trial heard how the celebrity and the girl met while at the Oxegen music festival, where the girl gave him her number.
The complainant, giving evidence to the court, detailed how she had finished transition year when she had attended the Oxegen music festival with a friend in July of 2010. She said the friends became separated in the crowd, and a security guard took her out of the crowd seeing she was being crushed.
As she was standing at the side, she said she saw the accused, who was at the opposite side of the barriers. They did not know each other at the time. She said because it was “really loud” they couldn’t hear one another – however she alleges “he passed his phone to a security guard to give to me and I put my number in and gave it back to the security guard.”
She said that “a few minutes later (the accused) came up behind me, we started talking briefly, we kissed and he left.” She had his phone number after he texted her, and they continued to text.
The complainant admitted to lying about her age to the accused, and said she believed things between them were “over” when she finally told the man, then 27, that she was actually 16.
“I initially said I was 18 at some point, so I was aware he thought I was 18,” the complainant told the jury. In her evidence, she said she had informed him of her actual age prior to the pair engaging in a sexual relationship.
The complainant alleges that the celebrity asked her if she was able to “keep a secret” and they later met and had oral sex three times. The defence made the case that the schoolgirl initially told the man she was 18 years old and in college, and did not reveal her real age to the accused until she turned 17.
The woman alleged in court: “He said ‘sweet 16’ with a question mark and I said yes”, adding: “This was all over text messages.”
“I thought he wouldn’t talk to me afterwards. That is when he told me that he was 27 and that I was too young for him. I thought that was the end of the conversation, that is when I thought OK this is over,” she told the court.
“A day or two later, he texted me again and asked could I keep a secret. I said yes, and we continued talking after that.”
She said she does not remember any further conversations between them about age.
The woman alleges that the pair met a total of three times to have oral sex, twice at the man’s home and once at his workplace, with them continuing to see each other until after she turned 17.
The complainant no longer has the phones she was using to communicate with the man at the time.
The trial continues.
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