A delivery driver who “coldly and calculatedly” anally raped a woman he met on a dating site as she slept before ejecting her from his house in the middle of the night has been jailed for seven years.
The 54-year-old Dublin man behaved in a “monstrous way” when he took advantage of the woman as she slept before throwing her out of his house without any regard for her welfare when she was “dazed” and physically injured, Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring said while sentencing the man on Monday.
The judge handed down a sentence of eight years, with the final year suspended. She ordered that the sentence be deferred until August 1st, when the man is to surrender himself to the Prison Service at Mountjoy Prison.
The man was found guilty by a Central Criminal Court jury of anally raping the woman at his home address on a date between January 10th and 11th, 2020, following a trial last February.
Ms Justice Ring ordered that reporting restrictions preventing him from being named should remain in place for legal reasons.
Detective Garda Bevin Meaney told the court the woman, aged in her late 40s, met the man on a dating website, and they chatted online for a couple of weeks before agreeing to meet up at a Dublin hotel.
The court heard the initial date in the hotel went well, so the woman agreed to go home with the man to watch a movie. When the night got stormy, he suggested she stay the night and provided her with pyjamas and a dressing gown.
The court heard the woman, who was a nervous driver, accepted the invitation but made it clear to the man that there would be no sexual activity between them. When it became clear she would not be driving that night, the man offered her some gin, which she drank.
The court heard the woman had one drink and was not sure if she had a second glass. The court heard she was getting drunk when the man suggested they go to bed and cuddle. She again made it clear nothing of a sexual nature would happen between them.
'Searing pain'
She fell asleep and woke up to a “searing pain”, before she realised the man was on top of her, anally raping her, and she was in a state of undress. The woman repeatedly asked him to stop, but he continued.
The woman passed out and when came to, the light was on and he was pulling the bedclothes off her. She again felt pain and asked him to stop.
The next thing she remembered was the man roaring at her to get up and get out of his house. He was extremely angry, the court heard.
The woman left the house in a state of confusion, with no shoes. She got into her car and was sitting there crying when the man came out and threw her boots into her through the window.
She drove away but hit some speed bumps and her car gave out on the motorway due to a flat tyre. She was helped by a taxi driver who took her home for free before she contacted a friend who came to her aid, the court heard.
She went to gardaí and a sexual assault treatment centre later that day and the man was arrested. He has no previous convictions.
The court heard the woman had bruising to her body and blood tests revealed no alcohol but the presence of opioids in her body. The woman had been taking a cough medicine which would not have contained opioids, while gardaí found medicine in the man's fridge for which he was not able to account.
You used me and discarded me like a piece of rubbish
In her victim impact statement which was read out in court by the investigating garda, the woman described how she is now a “shell” of her former self in the aftermath of the rape.
“You used me and discarded me like a piece of rubbish,” she said. She said she used to be a “fun and impulsive mum”, but now struggles to leave the house. She said her confidence has been destroyed and she suffers with anxiety, flashbacks and trouble sleeping.
She said she felt sick that she had been driving under the influence and that she could have been killed or killed someone else.
She said she was shocked that the man was given the “privilege of sorting out his affairs” ahead of sentencing and was not taken into custody.
She said the trial process was extremely difficult and that she felt like she was the one on trial. The court heard the woman's medical notes from a difficult period in her life over a decade ago were made public in court which she said “fully broke” her.
Sentencing the man, Ms Justice Ring said the woman “did nothing more than put her trust in someone who abused her and that trust”.
“She was left dazed, physically injured and thrown out of his premises without any regard for her welfare,” the judge said. “To feel used, abused and cast aside is what any right-thinking person would feel.”
She said the man “coldly and calculatedly took advantage when she was asleep, ignored the issue of consent, was found guilty of anal rape and will be a sexual offender for the rest of his life”.
The judge paid tribute to the taxi driver who came to the woman's aid and gave evidence at the trial.
Ciaran O'Loughlin SC, defending, said his client does not accept the verdict of the jury. He has a good work history and is employed as a delivery driver, counsel added.
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.
