Protestors this week have taken to the streets in Ireland, after a jury acquitted a 27-year-old man of a rape charge, sighting the “lacy underwear” worn by the 17-year-old victim as a factor.

You have to look at the way she was dressed,”  The Irish Examiner reported defence attorney Elizabeth O’Connell saying, with the lawyer adding that “she was wearing a thong with a lace front.”

The jury, consisting of eight men and four women, found the accused not guilty, prompting outrage throughout the country.

Since then, the country has seen protests, as well as politicans, speaking out against the confounding verdict.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar called the defence “absolutely reprehensible”, adding that “Nobody asks to be raped…it doesn’t matter what you wear, it doesn’t matter where you went, who you went with, or what you took — whether it was drugs or alcohol.”

Citizens have taken to social media posting photos of underwear strung between lamp posts near the spire in Dublin, using the hashtag #ThisIsNotConsent.

Meanwhile, protestors spread underwear on the steps of the courthouse where the trial took place in the city of Cork.

https://twitter.com/fiona96fmnews/status/1062702985472552961

In parliament on Tuesday Ruth Coppinger, a national lawmaker brought underwear with her into parliament, telling ministers “It might seem embarrassing to show a pair of thongs here… [but] how do you think a rape victim or a woman feels at the incongruous setting of her underwear being shown in a court?”

“When is this Dail going to take serious action on the issue of sexual violence?”

The case is eerily similar to the Belfast Gang Rape trial, which attracted a huge amount of attention given members of the Irish Rugby Union team were involved.

Women’s underwear was also scrutinized in that case, with found the four accused all found not guilty.

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