A Cavan man who raped an acquaintance while she slept after the woman got into the bed beside him fully clothed has been jailed for six years.
Paul Clarke (40) had denied a charge of rape but was convicted by a jury following a trial at the Central Criminal Court. He claimed during the trial that the woman was making up the allegation because she was looking for money having learned that he had received an inheritance.
Clarke, of Muff, Kingscourt, Co Cavan, was found guilty by a jury of raping the woman after a night out in Meath on February 11th, 2007, following a trial last October. It was the second trial to take place after a jury was unable to agree on a verdict in the first trial.
The woman, then 22, was asleep in her friend's house after a night out with Clarke when she woke up to find him raping her. She told the court she spent years trying to suppress what had happened to her before she received counselling and went to gardaí in 2017.
Edward Doocey BL, prosecuting, told the court on Monday that the woman was happy for Clarke to be named in reporting the case so long as it does not lead to her identification as she wants to retain her anonymity.
Sentencing him on Monday, Ms Justice Karen O’Connor noted the woman believed Clarke was clothed when she decided to get into the bed beside him.
She said the woman herself was fully clothed but awoke later to find Clarke raping her. Her shorts, underwear and tights were wrapped together and had been discarded by the bed. She told Clarke to stop and he did.
Ms Justice O’Connor said the woman should have felt safe and secure in her friend’s home, in a bed that she had slept in many times before, but “instead she was violated”.
Psychological toll
She noted from the victim impact statement that the woman later developed patterns of emotional eating and suffered from anxiety. She was prescribed medication and has attended for counselling.
Ms Justice O’Connor said the woman stated she was looking for three things from Clarke - acknowledgement, an explanation and a sincere apology.
The judge said the woman had shown great dignity during the trial and sentencing hearing and acknowledged the victim had previously outlined that she was horrified to note that a member of Clarke’s legal team had been following her on social media.
She said the claim that the woman’s motivation behind the allegation was money was “unpleasant, hurtful and ugly”.
Ms Justice O’Connor said she had read all the defence material, including 15 character references and a psychologist's report which outlined issues he has with his memory following a serious car incident in 2002.
The judge acknowledged there had been consensual kissing earlier in the night but said it was her recollection from the trial that the woman indicated at that stage that she was not interested in anything further and the kissing ended at that point.
The judge also said she was “very conscious” of Clarke’s personal circumstances and his commitment to his young child and parents.
She set a headline sentence of seven and half years, which she reduced to six years having taken into account the mitigating factors in the case. She also applied 18 months post release supervision and backdated the sentence to when Clarke first went into custody last December.
At the sentencing hearing last December, the woman read her victim impact statement to the court. She said the day after Clarke was interviewed by gardaí, his defence solicitor started following her on social media.
For a defence solicitor to follow the victim of a crime is unprofessional and unethical.
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“For a defence solicitor to follow the victim of a crime is unprofessional and unethical,” the woman told Clarke’s sentence hearing.
She told the court she struggled with anxiety and depression for years in the wake of the rape.
“It reached a point in 2017 when I wanted to drive my car into a ditch,” she said. When she eventually disclosed what had happened to her in counselling, she said it was a weight off her shoulders.
She said the trial process was difficult and exacerbated her anxiety and depression.
“In the first trial, it was put to me by defence counsel that at the age of 22, I was a 'woman of the world,” the woman said. “I was not.”
“I thought I would be safe in my friend's house, sleeping on a sofa bed I always slept on...I was naive.”
The court heard the accused denied the allegations to gardaí and suggested the woman was looking for money from him, as he had recently come into an inheritance.
The woman said she wanted only three things from the man: an acknowledgement of his actions, an explanation as to why he did it and a sincere apology.
The man “didn't have the common decency to admit the dishonour of (his) actions”, she said.
“I'm going to move forward with my life as a much happier person,” she said.
When asked by Ms O'Connor if he wished to comment on the solicitor issue, defence barrister Eanna Mulloy SC said that he did not wish to cross-examine the complainant on the issue and that some elements of social media are open to the public.
Outlining the case to the court, a local garda sergeant said that on the night in question, the woman was socialising with her friend, and they were joined by Clarke, then 24, whom they knew locally.
Clarke kissed her on the dance floor of the nightclub, but the woman made it clear to him that she did not want to, the court heard.
The trio went back to the woman's friend's house and had some food before the man went upstairs. The woman followed shortly afterwards and found Clarke asleep in the sofa bed she normally slept in.
She got into bed fully clothed and fell asleep. She awoke sometime later to find the man raping her. She was naked from the waist down.
She told him no and pushed him off her before going into her friend's bedroom. Clarke left the house shortly afterwards.
When arrested by gardaí in 2017, the man said the woman was telling “pure lies”, and it was “bullshit”. He said he had recently come into money and suggested the woman was making up a story as a result. “Maybe she thought she would get money,” he told gardaí.
Defence counsel told the court there were a number of testimonials from supporters of the man, a number of whom came to court to support him. Ms Justice O'Connor cleared the court of all but one family member before the hearing took place.
She thanked the woman in the case for her dignified manner throughout the court process, telling her: “You absolutely should have been safe in your friend's house.”
Mr Mulloy told the court that his client suffered a road traffic accident in 2001 which has resulted in him having difficulty with his memory.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800 77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/, or visit Rape Crisis Help.
In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.
