A Laois man who raped a friend when they had both left a social gathering at a Halloween bonfire to move into a wasteland area to go to the toilet has been jailed for two and half years.
The court heard that the girl was pulling up her underwear having gone to the toilet when the accused said to her “give us a feel, give us a feel”. The girl refused, but he turned her around and raped her while she continually asked him to stop.
The now 20-year-old man had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to rape at the area in Laois on October 31st, 2019. He was convicted by a jury last month. He has no previous convictions.
The court heard that before the girl made a complaint to gardaí, the accused had attended the local Garda station with his sister to inform them that he was aware that she was going to make an allegation of rape.
He said the allegation was false and the sexual interaction between them had been consensual.
In a victim impact statement, read into the record by Garnet Orange SC, prosecuting, the now 19-year-old girl stated she would have considered herself an extrovert before the rape, surrounded by people from all ages and from different areas like athletics and football.
She said she would have fought with her parents to be out with her friends all the time, but said since that night she has seen herself change into a totally different person.
She said she is completely isolated and has no motivation for anything. She tried to go back to school, but felt everyone treated her differently and looked at her like she was a different person, calling her an “attention seeker”.
“From that day I lost a lot of friends that I never thought I could,” the woman continued.
I blame myself and thought it was my own fault for what I wore.
Advertisement
She said she moved school and home because of how “unsafe” she felt. She has lost her independence since the rape as she is afraid to be on her own and is still unable to let people into her life.
The woman described losing sleep because every time she closed her eyes the incident “all comes flooding up”.
“I blame myself and thought it was my own fault for what I wore,” she said and spoke about trusting the accused because she considered him a friend at the time.
She said counselling has assisted her in teaching her “how to deal with the nightmares and triggers”, and that the rape was “only a small part of my journey”.
She said the last three and half years have felt like she has been held back, like she is a victim. She said she is proud of herself for going through the court process but said she is still trying to deal with the effect the rape has had on her.
“I can slowly feel myself re-gaining my independence, and I am proud of myself for getting through every day and getting stronger every day.”
On Tuesday, Mr Justice Paul Burns said the victim had been cross-examined in the trial both “expertly and appropriately”, but the defence had highlighted discrepancies in various statements surrounding what happened before and after the interaction on the wasteland that night.
He said, in the end, the jury had to decide whether the teenager’s testimony that she had protested was true or whether the accused’s claim that he had the girl’s consent was true before he noted that the jury returned a unanimous verdict to convict the man.
Juvenile
Mr Justice Burns said he considered the case warranted a headline sentence of seven years if the teenager had been an adult at the time of the rape but as he was a juvenile the appropriate headline sentence was four years.
The judge took into account the mitigating factors in the case which he said included the fact that the teenager had no previous convictions and had a bright future ahead of him prior to this offence. He also took into consideration that he was a young person who has never been in custody before.
Mr Justice Burns sentenced the man to three years in prison and suspended the final six months on strict conditions, including that he engage with the Probation Service for three years upon his ultimate release from prison.
He also ordered that he attend a course, approved by the Probation Service, that deals with consent in the context of sexual relationships. He acknowledged that the man would now be registered as a sex offender.
Ronan Munro SC, defending, outlined that since the offence, his client had developed a drug and alcohol problem and there was a concern he was suicidal. He handed in a number of letters from the man’s family, extended family and local community.
He said his client maintains that there had been a previous sexual relationship between him and the victim, but Mr Justice Burns asked “what difference does a prior sexual history make in the context of a rape offence?”
