Man who violently raped his partner at their home jailed for ten years

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A MAN who raped his partner after insisting that he check if she had just had sex with someone else has been jailed for 10 years.

The 25-year-old, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the now 24-year-old woman, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to rape and assault causing harm at the home they shared together in the West of Ireland on October 6, 2021.

The court heard that during the attack, the man held his then partner in a headlock and beat her, including kicking and kneeling on her. He also retrieved knives from the kitchen, scraping them off each other as he approached the woman. He spat on her after raping her.

During a sentencing hearing, the woman, who read her victim impact statement into the record, said she feared during the attack that she was going to be killed by the man and that her young daughter would be left without a mother.

Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring that the woman was raped in circumstances where her partner “in a fit of anger sought to examine her internally”.

She said the woman’s bodily integrity is protected under the constitution, adding that the woman was “not an item that can be investigated and abused whenever he gets angry”.

Ms Justice Ring also took into account the fact that the woman was the mother of the man’s young daughter and the incident involved him savagely attacking her, leaving her with various facial injuries and clumps of hair missing from her scalp.

The judge said the woman was attacked in her home, which she said should “be a place of safety and where loved ones reside”.

Instead, she was savagely attacked and all trust she had previously placed in the man was “obliterated by his actions”.

She said the woman made a decision that “sadly” women and men have to make in reporting such offences by a partner to the gardaí and she added that the woman “bravely” decided to do so and should “be commended for taking that step”.

Ms Justice Ring took the opportunity to wish the woman and her young daughter well and said she “wished that their now happy home continues for many years to come”.

The judge said the sentence warranted a headline sentence of 12 and a half years. She imposed a sentence of 10 years, taking into account the man’s plea of guilty and expression of remorse which was confirmed in a Probation Service’s report.

An investigating garda told Lorcan Connolly BL prosecuting, that the then 22-year-old woman returned home following a night out with a friend when the man accused her of having sex with that friend.

The man caught the woman, grabbed her and attacked her, striking her on both sides of her face before dragging her into her home. She managed to escape but returned again when she felt the man had calmed down and he had promised not to hit her again.

The garda said the man then locked the door behind the woman before he directed her to pull down her underwear so he could “check if she had sex”. He then held the woman in a headlock to the point where she was struggling to breathe and she fell in and out of consciousness.

The woman was attacked again before the man retrieved knives from their kitchen and began pacing up and down scrapping the knives off each other. He then directed the woman again to pull down her trousers before he sexually assaulted her.

The man then told the woman they were going to have sex. She refused but he ignored her and raped her.

The woman managed to get out of the apartment after she promised not to report the man.

She went to her local garda station where she was found to have significant facial injuries. The garda said there was clumps of the woman’s hair missing and she had bruising to her body consistent with having being dragged along the ground.

The man was arrested the same day and claimed the sex had been consensual. He has been in custody since. His 19 previous convictions relate to drug offences and the previous breach of a barring order, which had been taken out by his parents against him.

The woman stated in her victim impact statement that she has not been the same person since the attack.

She said “horrible thoughts lie inside my head” and she lives in constant fear, even though she knows the man is in prison.

“I will never be able to trust anyone again, especially when it was the father of my child,” she said.

She recalled thinking she "was going to be found dead on the floor by my father and my daughter”.

“I hope no other woman will suffer at the hands of him,” she continued.

She said she and her daughter have had to move because of the horrible memories she associates with the home she shared with the man, whom she described as “dark” and “dangerous”.

“No matter how many plans I put in place, I will never feel safe again,” the woman continued before she said she refuses “to live my life as your victim. Today is the day I take back my life for me and my daughter. Just forget we ever met and don’t contact me again”.

Mr Connolly said the Director of Public Prosecution's view was that the offence warranted a headline sentence of between 10 and 15 years due to the sustained nature of the offence, the fact that it occurred within a domestic setting and the impact it had on the woman.

Mark Nicholas SC, defending, said it was “very grim case” and he didn’t intend to minimise what happened that night.

He said his client had written a letter of apology, acknowledging the hardship he has put the woman and her family through and saying that he hopes she can move forward with her life.

Mr Nicholas said his client has “a sense of shame and regret” and is “sick to his stomach” about the incident. He is on the “enhanced prison regime” while on remand.