Labour has been left embarrassed and angry after a veteran party councillor was sacked from several council positions over inappropriate comments that he allegedly made about a nine-year-old girl who said that she had been raped.
William O’Rourke is said to have asked if the child “wanted it to happen” during a disciplinary panel hearing into the sacking of David McLintock, a care worker.
The party’s ruling leadership on Glasgow City Council yesterday removed Mr O’Rourke, 72, from his positions on Strathclyde Police Authority, the authority’s personnel appeals committee and the boards of two council-owned companies, City Parking Glasgow and City Markets (Glasgow). He has also been suspended from the Labour Party pending a party investigation.
Mr O’Rourke’s comments were reportedly made during a recent meeting of the personnel appeals committee that he was chairing and at which Mr McLintock, a former care assistant, was appealing against dismissal after being accused of raping the child. Although he was charged by police, the Procurator Fiscal decided not to proceed because of a lack of witnesses. He continues to deny the allegations.
The comments came to light when a female police officer who investigated the case gave evidence before the personnel appeals committee last month. It is understood that Mr O’Rourke asked her if force was used during the alleged rape and when she told him it was not, he is alleged to have asked: “So she wanted it to happen?”
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The police officer said in her evidence: “I replied that she was a child and was unable to give consent.”
She added: “He began a rant on the age of consent and how it should be lowered, commenting on the promiscuity of children and their modern provocative dress sense. He further commented that you could walk into any high school and observe girls in short skirts coupled with their promiscuous behaviour, thus giving weight to his argument about lowering the age of consent. Councillor O’Rourke continued his inappropriateness when discussing the complainer, commenting on her chaotic previous lifestyle at the hands of her prostitute mother.
“He hinted that she was not a typical, innocent nine-year-old but was sexually older than her years and conveyed the attitude that it was not as bad to commit crimes of this nature on a child with this background.”
Gordon Matheson, the council leader, said: “Councillor O’Rourke’s behaviour falls way short of the standard I and the public expect of Glasgow councillors. His comments to the personnel appeals committee were disgraceful. We are elected by the public to protect the vulnerable people of our city. Councillor O’Rourke not only failed in his duty to do this but he also made highly offensive and inappropriate statements about a vulnerable young person.”
James Dornan, the SNP leader on the council, congratulated Mr Matheson for a “correct” decision. However, Mr Dornan also claimed that several other Labour councillors had been at the committee meeting when Mr O’Rourke’s comments came to light.
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“If, as I suspect, Councillor Matheson was not made aware of these comments, why did the Labour councillors present not inform him about these comments?
“Councillor O’Rourke’s credibility as a local councillor has been seriously compromised. I hope he now considers his position as an elected councillor in this city.”
Informed sources at the council said last night that Mr O’Rourke was not expected to resign.
He did not comment last night, but at the weekend Mr O’Rourke was quoted as saying: “This is absolute rubbish — I would never make that type of comment. I categorically deny saying anything like that during the hearing.
“I have no idea why this officer would have complained that I made these remarks. All I can say is, it’s her opinion — it’s certainly not mine. There were three of us on the disciplinary panel and I have colleagues who will back me up.”
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Strathclyde Police is said to have submitted a report to the Standards Commission for Scotland, the body that governs the behaviour of politicians in Scotland.