A woman arrested on suspicion of deceiving University College Dublin (UCD) has been released without charge while a file is prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The woman was questioned about the legitimacy of documents furnished to support claims she had been raped.
The Irish Times understands the documents, which were presented as evidence in a challenge to UCD in the courts, were intended to prove the woman’s claim she was raped in 2023. It is also understood they were furnished to illustrate the ordeal she faced in the weeks and months following the alleged rape.
However, gardaí have checked the background of those documents. They have also cross-checked them with the woman’s movements and travel plans on the same dates she said she was at important medical appointments.
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Apparent discrepancies have emerged and now the woman faces an allegation that she deceived the college, though no findings have been arrived at and she faces no charges.
The woman is in her 20s and while she resided in Dublin for university, she is from another part of the country. She was arrested in Dublin city centre on Tuesday afternoon at the conclusion of the latest court sitting related to her legal challenge against UCD.
Garda headquarters confirmed she had been arrested on suspicion of “alleged deception contrary to the Criminal Justice Theft and Fraud Offences Act 2001 against a third-level institution”.
It added she was detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act at a Garda station in south Dublin.
The documents at the centre of the alleged deception were furnished as proof the woman had medical appointments.
They were intended to prove the appointments were around the same time she should have been sitting exams, thus explaining why some exams were missed.
Part of the woman’s legal challenge against the college is that it should have taken into account, to a much greater extent, the ordeal she was going through. She contends UCD should have allowed her to progress to the following academic year without passing all her exams.
A High Court ruling has gone against the woman and in favour of UCD’s handling of the case, and the woman is currently pursuing the matter through the Court of Appeal.
She told UCD authorities she was raped by a fellow student in 2023, during her medical studies. While she made that claim to the college and sought assistance as well as academic accommodations, she did not report the alleged rape to the Garda.
In April of last year, two years after the alleged rape, the woman said she was made aware that photographs of her – naked, bruised and unconscious after the alleged attack – had been circulated via UCD’s email system to more than 170 staff and students.
She said she didn’t know the images had been taken and had not consented to their distribution.
When the images were shared on UCD’s email system, the university last year referred the matter to the Garda for investigation. An inquiry into the origins and distribution of the images remains ongoing, alongside the inquiry into the alleged deception.
