Top lawyer opens Belfast investigation into collapse of rape case against alleged IRA officer
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A top English human rights lawyer has opened an official Belfast fact-finding probe into why a criminal trial against an alleged Irish Republican Army rapist collapsed.
The case has been front-page news in Ireland ever since Mairia Cahill, one of the three women who accused the alleged IRA man of rape, went public in October with her story — and accused Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams of leading a cover-up designed to protect the attacker and silence his victims. Adams denies this.
Cahill and the two other women, who have retained legal anonymity, met the fact-finder Friday to discuss his investigation. All three withdrew their testimony before the trial began, citing frustration over legal delays and prosecutors' tactics.
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The investigator, Keir Starmer, said he would report his findings this spring.