Galway Bay fm newsroom - A former hotelier, who was jailed for raping a 17-year-old employee at a Loughrea hotel he owned at the time, broke down as he told the Court of Appeal that his defence was not put to the trial jury.
55 year old Brian Shaughnessy, formerly of Ballywinna, Craughwell, was convicted of raping a female employee after a staff party on July 26th, 2010 at the Loughrea Hotel and Spa.
Shaughnessy had denied the rape charge but was convicted by a jury in March 2013 - and was sentenced to six years in prison, with an appeal rejected in April 2020.
It was claimed that his legal team did not adequately represent him and that a timeline that might have tested the credibility of the young woman's account was inadequately put to her in cross-examination.
Shaughnessy had claimed these issues were mentioned as an afterthought in a defence speech to the jury, and generally glossed over.
He successfully applied to the Supreme Court on the matter and the case was sent back to the Court of Appeal in March of last year.
This week, a sometimes tearful Shaughnessy told that court that he handed four "critical" documents to his defence team on the Friday before his trial, which began the following Monday.
It's claimed these documents include the time a key card was issued for a room from the front desk, as well as phone records.
Shaughnessy alleges a two-hour period is "fundamental" to his defence and he constantly reminded his legal team of this - but the timeline evidence was never put in questions to the complainant nor put before the jury.
The appeal was adjourned to October 7th to allow time for the preparation of transcripts and submissions from both sides.
