Woman felt ‘worthless’ after being raped by family friend while sleeping

A Co Kerry man has been jailed for raping a young woman as she slept in her bedroom.

The Central Criminal Court heard Conor Quaid (26) was in the victim’s home on the night because he was a trusted family friend. Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty said he abused this trust and has not shown any remorse since.

Quaid, of Monaree, Dingle, pleaded not guilty to rape at a place in Co Kerry on June 10th, 2018. A jury at the Central Criminal Court found him guilty by a majority verdict of 10 to one after a seven day trial.

The court heard that Quaid travelled to the victim’s home after a night out drinking in a nearby town. The woman had stayed in, was not drinking and had gone to bed early.

Quaid went to her bedroom and raped her while she was “curled up” asleep, Ms Justice Gearty said. The woman told gardaí­ that she woke up and found someone raping her but did not know what was happening at first and “froze”.

When she realised what was happening, she turned her head and saw Quaid and asked “what the hell are you doing”.

She told him to get out of her room and Quaid jumped up and left the room. The woman then realised her pyjama bottoms and underwear had been removed while she slept.

She was struggling to make sense of what had happened and the next day she sent a message via Facebook to Quaid accusing him of rape, prosecutor Tom Rice SC said.

Accepting

He told the court that Quaid’s replies to these accusations were “accepting of his guilt”.

Mr Rice said Quaid knew that the victim was home alone on the night as her family were away on holidays. He said that while he was a family friend he had not received express permission to enter the home that night.

After his arrest, Quaid denied that sexual intercourse had taken place but said that there had been consent to “a certain level of sexual activity”.

Micheal Bowman SC, defending, said his client has a medical history of alcohol dependency and that since this offence he has made efforts to address this.

He said his client’s father is a retired garda and his family would be well regarded and well thought of.

Ms Justice Gearty said there was no evidence that Quaid’s alcohol addiction was such that he did not know what he was doing and that there was evidence from before the attack that he was attracted to the woman.

“He wanted to have sex with her and he did so at a time when he longer cared whether she consented or not,” she said, noting that while Quaid has accepted the verdict of the jury he has not accepted the woman’s version of events.

‘No choice’

In a victim impact statement, read by Det Sgt Ernie Henderson, the woman said the attack has left her feeling powerless.

“You (Quaid) did whatever you liked. I had no choice on that night. You made me feel like I was worthless,” she said.

She said before the rape she was a “happy outgoing person” but she now struggles with panic attacks, guilt and shame on an ongoing basis.

She said she tried to return to her third level studies but could not concentrate and has since dropped out. She said everybody in the locality knew about the rape.

“I know some people held me responsible and that is difficult when I am the victim,” she said.

Mr Rice said that “there is almost universal knowledge of the case” in the locality and that while the victim does not want to be identified, she wanted Quaid to be.

Ms Justice Gearty said the woman had a right to security in her own home and Quaid had violated this.

She imposed a sentence of eight years and said the court had little scope to reduce this because of the absence of a guilty plea or of remorse. She did suspend 18 months on condition that Quaid be of good behaviour for three years after his release and stay away from the victim in perpetuity.