Laurence Dollimore
A NORTHERN Irish man has gone on trial for the alleged rape of a teenage girl on Spain’s Costa del Sol.
Micheal Joseph Cregan pleaded not guilty to attacking the girl, 17, in a room they were sharing with two others in Torremolinos between July 31 and August 20 2014.
The trial is the first in Northern Ireland to feature an alleged crime that occurred abroad.
Such cases have been allowed thanks to Article 76 of the 2008 Sexual Offences Order, which allowed for offences which allegedly occur outside of the UK to be brought before a court in the UK.
According to Belfast Live, Prosecutor John Orr told the jury at Derry Crown Court that 35-year-old Cregan and the girl were part of a group of six, all from Derry.
The group also included the complainant’s sister and her sibling’s then partner, the complainant’s father and a male family friend.
The alleged victim’s father and his friend shared one apartment.
A second apartment was shared by Cregan, the complainant, and her sister and then partner.
The second apartment only had three single beds, the court heard.
The alleged victim slept in one while the others pushed two beds together for the three of them to sleep on.
On the penultimate day of the trip, the group spent the day at the pool before going out drinking.
Orr told the court: “She became shaky on her feet and was brought back to the hotel by Cregan.
“She remembers waking up in bed after a short time and the defendant was on top of her having sex with her.”
The victim did not go to police until two summers later.
The prosecutor said she saw Cregan at her sister’s 30th birthday party in June 2016 and that the sighting ‘brought things back and she decided to go to the police.’
The trial continues…
