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Rape Charges Dropped Against Irish Bartender
By
Garth Johnston
Published Sep 27, 2011
Modified Sep 27, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Sep 27, 2011
Modified Sep 27, 2011
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And the Manhattan District Attorney's office appears to have let another rape case go. Last month a 22-year-old Irish bartender named Damien McGuinness was accused of raping a tourist in her friend's Morningside Heights apartment after she'd had consensual sex with his pal. But all of those charges were dropped yesterday when his accuser refused to testify before a grand jury. Not that he's free to roam the street again: McGuinness remains locked up while he awaits deportation for overstaying his visa.
On August 11, McGuinness and another man met the accuser and her female friend at a Midtown bar and later returned to the friend's apartment near Columbia University. There, McGuiness' friend had consensual sex with the accuser while her friend was in another room. Afterward his friend was done, the woman later told police, McGuinness came into the room and forced her to have sex. McGuinness and his friend, however, have maintained that both incidents were consensual.
Without the accuser's testimony, prosecutors had no choice but to drop their charges. McGuinness' father, also named Damien McGuinness, told DNAinfo that he felt "brilliant" about the news before adding that the rape "didn't happen."
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damien mcguinness
manhattan
nypd
rape
sexual assault
Garth Johnston
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