A woman who said she felt like ripping her soul from her flesh to release herself after she was raped while she slept has said that she forgives her rapist and prays that God will heal him.
The woman read her victim impact statement during the sentencing hearing of Daniel Okungbowa, who was jailed for 11-and-a-half years for raping this woman and a second woman four years later. Both women were asleep when he raped them.
Okungbowa (35), of Thornfield Square, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, was convicted of a count of rape following a trial at the Central Criminal Court. He had pleaded not guilty to raping a woman on September 13th, 2020, in a flat in Dublin.
Following the conviction in that case, Okungbowa then pleaded guilty to another rape of a 23-year-old woman that had occurred four years earlier on November 26th, 2016. He had denied the offence up until that point.
At an earlier sentence hearing, this now 31-year-old woman who was raped in 2016 read her victim impact statement into the record.
She said in the aftermath of the rape she became depressed and “unkind to myself” and said she has suffered anxiety and self-harm.
“It felt like my soul left my body the night I was raped, and I have been searching for it ever since,” she continued, before she said she had felt like ripping her soul out of her flesh to release herself.
The woman described how Okungbowa had tried to convince her not to report him. “I was expected to carry the cross of being violated. He lives his life, while I lived a life of trauma and pain,” she said.
“The arrogance of him,” she continued and described it as “a sexual violation against me”, adding that he had “a perverted sense of entitlement to my body”.
I forgive you and I pray that God heals you. I am no longer your victim. I survived you
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She said delivering her victim statement helped her to come to terms with what happened. “Today I am proud of myself. I found myself. Today I am redeemed and justice is being served. I was broken, degraded and humiliated. I wanted to die so many times. I lived my time in solitude, isolation and tears.”
“I have healed. I can truly say now that I forgive you. There was a time when I wished the worst for you because I believed my life was destroyed. I refuse to give you a full chapter. You are now a passing sentence, not even a paragraph, you are not worth a paragraph,” she said.
“Thankfully, I have survived. I know that you are nothing other than a predator. You preyed on me while I slept. You raped me while I slept. I forgive you and I pray that God heals you. I am no longer your victim. I survived you,” the woman concluded her statement.
The woman who was raped in September 2020 said in her victim impact statement that she was out celebrating with friends that night, but her life changed forever when she woke to find a man raping her.
She said she doesn’t know how she can ever stop thinking about it. “That person I used to be died. I am only a shell of a person. I will never be the same again,” she continued.
She said her relationship with her family was really damaged and she said she stopped working after the attack.
Speaking of giving evidence at trial, the woman said that telling a courtroom full of strangers what happened her that night was “torture, but I am proud that I did”.
“You should not be let out to destroy other lives,” the woman said in her statement.
“I would like to think you were sorry for what you did and not just sorry for getting caught,” the woman said before she concluded the statement by thanking the jury for “believing me”.
Imposing sentence, Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo said the aggravating factors included the impact of the offending on both victims.
The judge noted that Okungbowa pleaded guilty to the 2016 offence after his conviction for the 2020 offence. Mr Justice Naidoo said the plea had a “more than a tactical element to it”, but was still important as an acknowledgement of wrongdoing.
The judge added it was “difficult to accept” that Okungbowa's expressions of remorse were “genuine”.
Mr Justice Naidoo said there was a level of “planning and premeditation” involved in the 2020 offending, which made it “somewhat more serious” than the other offence. The judge noted both offences were committed against sleeping women.
He set a headline sentence of 14-and-a-half years “to reflect the seriousness of the offending as a whole” and the guilty plea in one of the cases.
Mr Justice Naidoo said the probation report states Okungbowa engaged in victim blaming, sought to minimise his behaviour and is at moderate risk of re-offending.
He said he took into account Okungbowa's personal circumstances, a number of testimonials and his personal history.
The judge added that he had considered Okungbowa's letter of apology in relation to the 2016 offence, but the court had to conclude that “his expressions of remorse and empathy are largely self-serving and of no real value in mitigation” in light of the contents of the probation report.
He imposed a global sentence of 13 years with the final 18 months suspended on strict conditions.
Detective Garda Linda Ryan told Michael Hourigan BL, prosecuting, that in November 2016 the woman was out socialising with friends when she went back to an apartment in Dublin. She decided to go and lie down in a bed before a man joined her.
There was consensual kissing with the man before she got up and went to the bathroom. She later returned to the bedroom, got in under the covers and fell asleep. She was fully clothed when she fell asleep but woke later to find she was being raped.
She said “who is this?” and the man replied giving his first name, Danny. She asked the man, “who the f**k is Danny” and asked him if he was aware that “you are raping me”. The man pulled up his underwear and left.
The woman left the house and told a friend she had been raped. It was later reported to the gardaí.
A person of pure arrogance, a misogynist who raped me and denied raping me for seven years
Okungbowa was arrested and interviewed during which he denied that there had been any sexual contact between them.
He suggested to the gardaí that it may have been another man.
The woman who was raped in November 2016 said in her victim impact statement that Okungbowa was “a predator”.
She said she was “unfortunate enough to encounter such a person, encounter a person of pure arrogance, a misogynist who raped me and denied raping me for seven years.”
“All I remember saying to you was 'Hi'. I forgot for a very long time that I was a victim. You called me names as you denied raping me,” she said in her statement.
“For over seven years I lost my sense of self worth, my sanity. I was 23 years old at the time. I am now 31. I lost my identity,” she continued.
The court heard that Okungbowa denied the rape in September 2020 but was convicted following a trial in December last year.
The now 32-year-old woman later told gardaí that she had been out socialising with friends before she went back to a Dublin bedsit. She went to sleep in a double bed in a bedroom.
She later woke up to find Okungbowa raping her from behind. She was enraged and managed to push him off her. He stopped and left the flat. The woman immediately fell back asleep but when she woke later she told the others in the house what had happened and the gardaí were alerted.
Okungboaw was arrested later. He denied that the woman was asleep and claimed she had initiated the intimacy between them. He said she was both enthusiastic and consenting.
Okungbowa has a previous conviction for false imprisonment, robbery and extortion. He was 27 when he committed the first offence and 31 years old when he committed the second offence.
Colman Fitzgerald SC, defending, asked the court to take into account that his client had pleaded guilty to one offence and accepted the guilty verdict of the jury in relation to the other.
He handed in letters of apology from the accused to both victims, should they wish to receive them.
Mr Fitzgerald also handed in a letter to the court, as well as letters from his client’s wife and teenage daughter. He said his wife outlines his client’s difficult early life and his daughter writes of her good relationship with her father. Further certificates and references were also handed in.
Counsel submitted that the final headline sentence for both offences together should not exceed ten years.
Mr Fitzgerald said there had been clearly a breach of trust involved in theses offences, in that the injured parties knew him and the rapes were carried out on people sleeping, but submitted there were no aggravating factors beyond that.
He said his client was a good father and played a significant role in family life. He said the references showed he was someone capable of behaviour that was worthy of positive comment and socially proactive.
Counsel said his client is aware this is a situation where he has done huge damage not just to the complainants but also to his own family and children and for that he is deeply remorseful.
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.
