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A LAOIS RESIDENT who anally raped a pregnant woman as she slept following a night out has been jailed for seven and a half years.
The 59-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect his victim’s identity, was convicted by a Central Criminal Court jury following a five-day trial in December of anal rape of the 34-year-old woman at her home on October 10, 2010.
The court heard the man, who has no previous convictions, does not accept the verdict of the jury.
Ms Justice Deirdre Murphy said the woman had been “devastated” by the assault and it was clear from her victim impact report that the shockwave of the crime had moved beyond her and affected others.
Pregnancy blighted with concerns
Ms Justice Murphy noted the woman’s pregnancy had been “blighted” by her concerns about possible harm to her unborn child.
She noted the numerous testimonials handed into court on behalf of the accused man and said although he was a good member of the community, he seemed to have a warped sense of entitlement in sexual matters.
Ms Justice Murphy imposed a seven-and-a-half year sentence which she backdated to when he went into custody in December.
Detective Garda Tracey Brennan told Paul Coffey SC, prosecuting, that the woman, who was 16 weeks pregnant, and two other women met the accused man by arrangement at a pub.
The accused had planned to sleep in his car that night so the woman said he could sleep in her home. Back at the house the three women went to bed upstairs and the accused was on the couch.
The woman said she later awoke in her bedroom with a bad pain in her backside. She was lying on her stomach and turned to see the accused man kneeling over her. She became aware his penis was in her backside.
She screamed and pushed him. She threw a quilt around her and ran screaming to the other room.
The woman’s sister heard the noise and saw the accused man walking quietly down the stairs. She went down to the sitting room and told him to leave.
The woman made a complaint to gardaí and was brought to a sexual assault treatment unit.
Man arrested
The accused man was arrested and interviewed. He told gardaí that the woman had come down for a chat and he had put his arm around her but it was nothing sexual. He said she jumped up and said “ah ah”. He said she went upstairs talking loudly but not screaming.
In her victim impact statement the woman said that five years on from the rape there wasn’t a day went by where she didn’t have flashbacks or feel panic or intense sadness.
The woman said she was on medication for anxiety and depression. She said she suffered nightmares and panics when people stood behind her. She said she suffered nausea almost daily because the thought of what happened sickened her so much.
She said:
Nothing can hide the cruel fact that until my dying day I will be a victim of rape.
Bernard Condon SC, defending, handed in a large number of testimonials on his client’s behalf which he said outlined he was held in high regard. He also handed in a letter from the accused man himself asking for leniency.
The accused man’s children said he was a caring father who helped and supported them. They said he was hard working and helped others. His siblings said he was a kind-hearted family man as well as a good, well-respected person.
His current partner said he had never hurt or harmed her in any way and was a “proper gentleman”.
Further testimonials outlined he was a good worker, good friend and helped those in need.
Condon submitted the aggravating factors present in other cases such as threats or repeated offending were absent in this case.
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Great, now Leo while you have the farmers attention can you please ask them why they are burning gorse illegally during nesting season and polluting our water systems.
@Stoneybroke: try and get an answer for that…
@Stoneybroke: that’s a very lazy generalized comment on farmers.
@Stoneybroke: Would be a stupid question to ask a beef farmer, as cattle don’t graze the gorse land.
@Adrian™: are you a farmer ?
@Do the Bort man: They do where I live in Co. Sligo and nearby Co.Roscommon.
@Stoneybroke:
You have to laugh at that poster in the background, Leo The Lamb.
If he pissses the farmers off the only support he’ll have left is the bankers and insurance cartels.
@Do the Bort man: don’t get me started ranting about the pollution caused by the beef industry.
@Stoneybroke: shooting your mouth off before engaging your brain if you have specific evidence of this you should give details of the person to the local authority in question.
@Liam O Connor: you are very very naive. I have farming background on both my parents side. I know full well what goes on.
@Stoneybroke: what’s ur problem with farmers? From what I see they seem to be the only part of society that will confront govt? I say fair play to them. If they’re getting screwed they take it up with the main man, ie Leo. Well done to the farmers.
@Stoneybroke: which farmers did that?
@Stoneybroke: are u 1 of those bitter sons who didn’t get the land?
@Stoneybroke: iranod Éireann have been cutting hedges the past few weeks too.
@Vote4Pedro: I knew you weren’t just a pretty face Pedro :)
@Stoneybroke: Its the first comment and already you’re off-topic. The whattaboutery is ridiculous.
@Stoneybroke: Hope you reported them!
@Stoneybroke: so you have no evidence but you know what you know!
@Liam O Connor: ah lads it’s time to blow out the torches and put down the pitchforks. Grab yourselves a nice cold beer from the fridge and go out your feet up !
More like leo and the cabinet go down to cork for a photo opp and are greeted by protestors.
@Adrian: what a surprise that they aren’t in hospitals looking for a photo opportunity! https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/it-is-simply-not-acceptable-inmo-have-no-confidence-in-harris-or-hse-as-over-500-on-trolleys-921259.html
Beef farmers have to realise the game is up and need to start planning ways to diversify. Between Brexit, global warming and a trend away from the over consumption of meat, their business model is screwed and there’s no going back. Blaming Leo and everyone else who points out the writing on the wall to them is not going to change that and the taxpayers can’t continue to support a business model that is not sustainable.
@James Wallace: Disregarding the Savage Eye flavour of this protest, you have a point. Mind you, it’s not dissimilar to the miners’ strikes in the UK, though I can’t expand that point too much as it slides dangerously towards supporting Thatcher (the old crone).
Snag is, of the 520,000 or so tonnes of beef we produce , over 90% is destined for export, and beef alone accounts for over a fifth of our food and drinks export total. And given that this figure won’t be dropping anytime soon, we can expect more of these protests. And possibly less extra-curricular activities by the cabinet. Tax supports, meanwhile, will continue…
@James Wallace: Good point, but in Ireland it rains way too much therefore growing foodstuffs is out of the question, although grants for pollytunnels would be very lucrative.
Well, in the west it does and the land is deplorable
Any export business is subject to currency fluctuations. What do the farmers do with the extra money when the exchange rate is in their favour?
@Derek Walsh: in that scenario they shut-up about it
@Derek Walsh:
When the currency fluctuates positively – The fat cat Beef processors and retailers put it in their back pockets and off shore accounts. Farmers on the bread line see none of it sadly !!!Time to look into this MUCH closer !
J.B.G.
so leo think that making the cabinet more ‘mobile’ will stop people thinking “its all about dublin ” well leo – how about shifting some of those big corporations and jobs down outside the pale ? people outside of dublin dont want you or your little band of crooks and gombeens – they want decent, sustainable,well paid jobs without having to commute 2 or 3 hours to get to work … sort that out sock boy !
@Eric Davies: the companies get generous grants for locating outside of Dublin. Yet they still choose to locate in the only “city “ of scale we have. Otherwise they go to Frankfurt , Amsterdam etc. they go to Dublin, IRELAND or they go abroad. Huge amounts are redistributed from Dublin to rural areas …
@Eric Davies: So can Leo now force a private company to set up outside Dublin??
Or you’re mad he doesn’t have that superpower?
@Michael Cunningham: but he / the government could maybe invest in the sort of infrastructure necessary to attract and maintain such companies/ enterprises outside the Pale, or even the sort of infrastructure necessary to maintain rural communities, like hospitals or Garda Stations
@Karen Wellington: The economy of scale or workforce skills simply don’t exist outside of the major cities. Highly mobile graduates with 2 degrees and 3 languages don’t want to live outside of cities. They want the convenience that living in a city brings, including social life, public transport links and the ability to move from job to job. Large multi Nationals are chasing these employees and so must go where the labour force is. You can build as many roads and high speed broadband links as you like, you can’t force people to relocate
@An bhearna: I wasn’t asking for multinationals to set up anywhere, I’m asking the Irish Government to invest in the entirety of Ireland rather than exclusively cultivating a cesspool to the point no one can afford to live there. They’ve created an economic and housing(again) bubble around Dublin ready to pop. I’m personally at the point of hoping for a hard brexit just to get out of here.
Is vegan supposed to be an insult now? How dare he lead a healthy lifestyle!
@Rochelle:
Not even sure is he vegan, either. It’s the kind of insult hurled about by grown men who think their diets are under attack just because they saw a young wan go down the road in a veggie t-shirt with a nose ring.
@Stu Kent: no I don’t think he is vegan. He was eating steak a few weeks ago anyway. He just suggested he might reduce his meat consumption and there was apoplexy in the beef industry.
Now if only he could cut down on, oh, hospital waiting lists?
@Rochelle: *un
Fair play to the farmers…but if the protesters consisted of housing, health , evictions .. the blueshirt trolls and meadia would refer to them as rent a mob. Conflict of interest?.
@Donal Desmond: can you show a media report that refers to housing, health, or eviction protesters as rent a mob?
@Dave O’Keeffe: On numerous occasions. Remember when government ministers referred to the Jobstown protesters as thugs… even after they were found Not guilty by the courts… the undermining of water protesters as left wing thugs , rent a crowd, the protesters who defend families facing evictions. Well done to the farmers, but you won’t see or hear the media or F.F./ F.G. coalition condemning their protest.
@Donal Desmond: so you can’t show me any then? Rent a mob is a specific term and is not the same as thug.
@Dave O’Keeffe: Same thing in the eyes of the F.F./F.G. coalition and mainstream media. When protesters entered Apollo house, they were condemed by politicians and media as thugs, left wing Looney’s. Yet when farmers occupied a government building NO condemnation from same politicians or media. You will recall during water protests photos shown on our national broadcaster and media, water meter installers surround by guards , while a peaceful protest was made look like intimidation. P.S. what ever happened to the promises Simon Coveney made to de escalate the Apollo house protest.
@Donal Desmond: no, rent a mob is very different. It means it’s protesters for hire who don’t necessarily care about the cause they’re protesting. Since you’ve still not shown any proof of it it’s fairly safe to assume there is none.
Beef farming is unethical and unsustainable. It’s not good for us and it’s not good for the environment. Bad luck for the farmers but more and more people are coming to realise this. Vegan is not an insult
People in Dublin dont want his crooks and gombeens either.
Seeing that practically every GP in the land (the ones in the practice I attend anyway) advise less meat and dairy in the diet – it’s a wonder farmers are not out picketing surgeries!
Saw the hilarious video in the indo of the farmers being held back on either side by the guards, whereas if they came from across the road, they would have had easy access to leo.
Looks like something out of fr. ted.
Yeah Leo, stop brexiting ya muppet!
How was a day out for cabinet ever going to achieve anything with regard to the government only ever focusing on the Pale?
Farmers need to change what they farm for the sake of the climate..also subsidising them is no way Helping..
The REALLY BIG PROBLEM with the beef industry (which gives employment to a huge swath of our citizens ) is that it is entirely controlled by one man who has a complete monopoly (He also controls a huge slice of our private hospitals, media and fuel distribution) but it is his almost complete control of the beef industry that has left him so so wealthy. Of course all this is entirely at the producer’s expense!
If Leo ate beef the vegetable growers would probably be out protesting.
Get them out
@james Wallace. Food must always be in over supply. Otherwise you can’t work if you had to que for supplies all the time. If food is in oversupply then the primary producer(farmer) will struggle to get a decent price. That’s why we have a CAP. But it’s a catch all system which isn’t flexible enough when there are additional pressures put on farmers such as natural or political disasters.
Like every other industry the beef far. Ers of Ireland will have to consider diversifying into other alternative markets. Every business has to adapt as the market changes. People want to eat less meat. We’ll good!!! I’m glad to hear that. And they will have to adapt to other non meat based alternatives… You can’t force Leo or anyone to eat more meat and then ask for subsidies if they don’t..
So much for “free markets” – hands up anyone else whose job gets subsidised by the taxpayer?
Oh…politicians.
Airlines.
Bankers.
Can’t beat steak n chips
Sausage is my favourite, but the brand? Well you need to get to know me better lads
@Socky Varadkar: I’d say you have has plenty of pudding as well lol
Why should farmers get hand outs will be on many lips?
Oh no, not the beef industry :(
I passed the city hall during the protest amazing the amount of guards on duty, Langer Leo had his eye on the bull .
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