Irish immigrant is charged in alleged New York rape

An immigrant from Northern Ireland employed as a bartender in New York City was charged on Friday with one count of first degree rape stemming from an encounter with a woman early Thursday morning at an apartment close to Columbia University in upper Manhattan.

Damien McGuinness, 22, is being held in lieu of $5,000 bail on a charge that he raped a woman visiting New York from another state. McGuinness and an Irish friend, Brian Duddy, first met the woman and her friend at a bar and proceeded to the apartment, where Duddy had a consensual encounter with the alleged victim.

However, afterwards McGuinness allegedly raped the woman while Duddy allegedly held her down. The attack occurred at 4:45 a.m. and the woman contacted police immediately after the Irishmen left the apartment, telling cops that the men had Irish accents.

They were apprehended at a nearby subway stop a half hour later after police detected their brogues. Both were arrested, but Duddy was eventually released without charge, though prosecutors declined to reveal why.

“What started out as a consensual encounter between the defendant’s friend and the complaining witness ended with the defendant raping (her),” assistant district attorney John Temple said in court.

McGuinness’s court appointed public defender disagreed. “(Duddy) told detectives that anything that transpired was consensual and that he was the only other witness to the incident,” said attorney Brad Sage.

The apartment belongs to the alleged victim’s friend who also met the Irishmen Wednesday night at a bar on the East Side of Manhattan. She was in another room when the assault allegedly took place, police sources told the New York Daily News.

McGuinness, who has been living in Queens, will return to court on August 16. If he is able to post bail – prosecutors had sought a higher $25,000 bond – he will have to surrender his passport and license, though he told the judge that he recently lost both documents.

McGuinness had been attending college before moving to New York last year.