Fury after teenager’s G-string was used as evidence in a rape trial

Women are sharing photos of their underwear on Twitter in protest after a teenage girl’s underwear was used as evidence against her in a rape trial.

A 27-year-old man, who denied raping a 17-year-old in Ireland, was acquitted in court last week and it sparked a viral social media movement with the hashtag ‘This is not consent’.

The jury of eight men and four women took one and a half hours of deliberation to reach their unanimous verdict.

The girl’s “thong with a lace front” was presented during the case as part of the defence’s closing address.

In her final address to the jury, senior counsel Elizabeth O’Connell told the jurors they should consider the underwear the girl wore on the night of the alleged rape according to the Irish Examiner.

“Does the evidence out-rule the possibility that she was attracted to the defendant and was open to meeting someone and being with someone?” she told the court.

“You have to look at the way she was dressed. She was wearing a thong with a lace front,” she explained.

The jury had previously heard evidence that in the immediate aftermath of the alleged sexual incident the complainant said to the accused “You just raped me” and the defendant said “No, we just had sex.”

The accused told his senior counsel that what happened was consensual.

Justice Carmel Stewart thanked the jury in a case dominated by the issue of consent at the end of the trial but Ms O’Connell’s comments have sparked fierce backlash online.

Women have been sharing photos of their underwear alongside the hashtag #ThisIsNotConsent to protest ‘victim blaming’ and as a show of support for the teenager.