MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — A Midtown bartender has been charged with raping a woman in Morningside Heights after his friend had a consensual encounter with her, prosecutors said Friday at his arraignment.
Damien McGuiness, 22, an Irish citizen who came to the U.S. last year, allegedly took advantage of a woman at an apartment near Columbia University on Claremont Avenue. The alleged attack occurred early Thursday morning at about 4:45 a.m., according to the criminal complaint.
The woman, who was visiting New York from out of town and staying with her friend near Columbia, was out for drinks with her friend when they met McGuinness and his pal at a bar. The group moved to the Claremont apartment later that night, prosecutors said.
"What started as a consensual encounter between the defendant's friend and the complaining witness ended with the defendant raping the complaining witness," Assistant District Attorney John Temple said at his criminal court arraignment Friday.
McGuinness was charged with one count of rape in the first degree, the complaint says. Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Anthony Ferrara set bail at $5,000.
It was unclear whether McGuinness would be able to post the bail. His court appointed attorney, Brad Sage, said the bartender has been in the United States for a year, working as a bartender in a Midtown bar and is originally from Northern Ireland where he was a college student before coming to New York.
McGuinness's friend, Brian Duddy, who was arrested but released and not charged, told police "anything that transpired was consensual," Sage told the court.
Prosecutors said police apprehended McGuinness and Duddy on the subway after the alleged victim promptly called 911 to report the incident.
Sage said McGuinness lost his passport and license about a week ago. He must appear again in court on Aug. 16 and either report his documents as missing or find them and surrender them if he makes bail.
