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| “ | She was the one who wanted it! She was afraid after that her dad would find out, but that's not my fault! | „ |
| ~ Liam dodging responsibility for raping Shae McGrath |
Liam Dowling is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Duty to Report". He is a teenager who rapes his family friend Shea McGrath at a party.
He was portrayed by Cameron Mann.
Early life[]
Liam grew up in a dysfunctional home in which his father, Mickey, frequently beat his mother, Janice. While Mickey never harmed his son, Liam did witness several domestic incidents, none of which Janice reported to the police.
He attended a prestigious high school in Manhattan along with Shea McGrath, whom he had known his entire life; Shea's father, NYPD Police Chief Tommy McGrath, was a close friend of Mickey's, and their families lived across the street from each other.
Liam was sexually attracted to Shea, but she did not return his feelings, seeing him as brother figure. One night at a party at Shae's house, Liam found a drunk Shea lying on her bed and started kissing her, which she allowed and returned. When he started taking her skirt off, however, she told him to stop, but he ignored her wishes and raped her.
"Duty to Report"[]
Shae tells her therapist, Dr. Heather Lentz, about the rape, and Lentz discloses to Captain Olivia Benson of the NYPD's Special Victims Unit, who is seeing her to deal with the trauma of a past case. Benson goes to the McGrath residence and talks to Shea, who confirms that she was raped; she does not want to get Liam in trouble, however, so she falsely accuses her algebra tutor, Saager Shah, who was briefly at the party.
Benson, Sergeant Fin Tutuola, and Detective Terry Bruno question Saagar, who denies raping Shea. At that moment, Chief McGrath, who has only just learned that his daughter was raped, barges into the interrogation room and threatens to kill Saagar. His actions leave Benson no choice but to involve Captain Renee Curry of the Department's Internal Affairs Bureau in the investigation.
Saagar provides an alibi that proves his innocence, so Shea reluctantly identifies Liam as her rapist. Benson and Tutuola take Liam in for questioning in front of his parents and a bewildered McGrath, whom Mickey had called in hopes of making potential criminal charges against Liam go away.
Benson and Assistant District Attorney Dominick Carisi Jr. interrogate Liam with Mickey present, and he claims that he and Shea had consensual sex. Tutuola and Bruno talk to a friend of Shea's, who shows them a cell phone video of Liam leaving Shea's room and fist-bumping his friends. They also get a recording from Saagar's bike helmet camera showing a clearly traumatized Shea stumbling out of her room moments after Liam left. Shea tells Benson and Curry what Liam did to her, which is backed up by another girl from the party to whom Shae confided after the rape, giving Benson and McGrath enough evidence to arrest Liam. When an enraged Mickey insults Shea, McGrath pulls a gun on him and has to be restrained from killing him in cold blood.
Liam's lawyer makes a deal with Carisi in which he will confess to the rape on the condition that he is prosecuted as a juvenile and serves three years in a juvenile facility. That night, he gets into a violent argument with Mickey that results in Janice being injured when she tries to get between them. Both Liam and Mickey are arrested, and both go to prison - Mickey for domestic violence, and Liam for rape and assault. The McGrath family witnessed this, while expressing horror. Afterwards, McGrath takes a leave to support his family while awaiting punishment for his unprofessional behavior throughout the investigation and replaced by Curry.
External links[]
- Liam Dowling on the Law & Order Wiki
