Man Jailed For Raping Former Partner At Laois Home

He was handed an 11 and half year sentence.

A man who showed a “callous disregard” by sexually assaulting his former partner twice has been handed a prison sentence of 11-and-a-half years.

The 41-year-old man, who cannot be identified to protect the anonymity of the victim, was on the sex offenders register for a previous sexual assault when this offence took place,

The man was convicted by a jury following a trial at the Central Criminal Court last March of rape and anal rape at his apartment in Co. Laois in August 2016. He was acquitted of charges of false imprisonment and making a threat to kill.

The man had pleaded not guilty to all the charges and does not accept the verdict of the jury. He has a number of previous convictions including assault of his partner in February 2016 and the sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl in 2007.

Imposing sentence on both counts of rape yesterday, Justice Kerida Naidoo said there had been a “significant breach of trust” as the accused had attacked the woman at a place she would have considered as home.

Justice Naidoo handed the accused a custodial sentence of 13 and a half years, with the final two years suspended on strict conditions backdated to March 28, 2022.

The court had previously heard that the man raped the woman twice in his apartment in a town in Laois on August 16, 2016.

The couple were in a relationship at that time and the woman had recently given birth to their child.

Following a meeting with a social welfare officer, the accused asked the woman to go to bed with him, saying he was tired. She refused and he grabbed her, taking her to the bedroom where he raped her.

The woman told gardaí that she said to him, “No stop doing this, you know I don't want this”, but that he continued to rape her.

He then “turned her over” and anally raped her. The woman said she was horrified when she realised what the man was doing and “she froze a little”.

She said she felt terrified, afraid and in shock. The woman fought back and tried to push the accused away, but ran out of energy to continue.

The woman later called gardaí from her own apartment. A medical report recorded that some swabs could not be taken due to the injuries sustained by the woman. Bruising to her back and neck and marks on her left shoulder consistent with a bite mark were also recorded. 

The accused made a voluntary statement to gardaí at the time. Following his arrest in March 2017, the man claimed the sexual activity was consensual. He also said the woman was making a false complaint to obtain sole custody of the couple's child.

Justice Naidoo said he accepted the prosecution argument that the accused's previous convictions for assaulting his partner and sexually assaulting another young woman were aggravating factors.

The accused had showed a “callous disregard” for the victim by raping her for a second time, Justice Naidoo said, which was an additional aggravating factor.

The woman had suffered physical harm and injuries as a result of the anal rape.

Justice Naidoo set a headline sentence of 10 years in relation to the count of rape and 13-and-a-half years for the count of anal rape. He said the court did not accept a claim by the defence that the meeting with a social welfare officer should be considered as a mitigating factor.

Justice Naidoo said that the mitigating factors “were not very strong” as there was no guilty plea or expressions of remorse.  However he noted that the accused did offer some co-operation to gardaí.

The man also has a history of depression, and has a minor intellectual disability. Justice Naidoo said there is no evidence to suggest that the defendant has a low ability to discern right and wrong.

A probation report concluded that the accused is at medium risk of re-offending.

A psychological assessment and the probation report stated that the accused had been the victim of sexual abuse himself as a child, though gardaí do not have a record of any complaint.

Justice Naidoo suspended the last two-years of the 13 and a half year sentence and backdated to March 28, 2022.

The court was previously told that the man attacked the woman by head-butting her face in February 2016, while she was pregnant.

He was handed a four-month suspended prison term for this offence in January 2018 on condition that he pay €4,000 to the victim. A portion of that sentence was activated earlier this year, as no payment has been made to the victim.

At a sentence hearing earlier this year, Garda Sergeant Kieran Shortall told the court that the man was also convicted in 2009 for the sexual assault of a homeless teenager to whom he offered shelter for the night at his then home.

The accused received a nine-month sentence and was placed on the sex offenders register for ten years.

Sgt Shortall told Cathleen Noctor SC, prosecuting, that at the time of the rape the man was out on bail for an offence of producing a stick during a fight with a man.

In her victim impact statement, the woman said the man was abusive, controlling and manipulative during their relationship. She said that since these attacks she had lived in fear of seeing him again.

“My life will never be the same. He tried to destroy my life. I am not the same person I was and never will be,” she stated.