Man who raped sex worker in Dublin jailed for four years and nine months

A man has been jailed after he admitted raping a sex worker in Dublin five years ago.

Soren Constantin Gavrila (42), of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty on Tuesday at the Central Criminal Court to raping the woman in Dublin on September 1st, 2018.

The court heard that Gavrila and two others arrived at the location just after midnight and indicated that they were looking for business from the victim.

The two other men came to an agreement with the sex worker on behalf of Gavrila. They did this as Gavrila is a Romanian national and spoke limited English at the time of the offence, the court heard.

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An agreement was reached that for €50, the victim would provide oral sex to Gavrila. The two others returned to the car and Gavrila and the victim went to a more secluded area.

The victim later told gardaí that she noticed that Gavrila was drunk and she struggled to understand him. She performed oral sex on him with a condom but he removed it and threw it to the ground. The victim refused to perform oral sex without a condom and retrieved one from her bag.

Gavrila picked the woman up and tried to kiss her but she told him to stop. He then pushed her to the ground and raped her. He bit her back and arm and cut her lip.

The woman called her boyfriend who had dropped her off at the location and Gavrila moved away to a nearby road.

The victim’s boyfriend arrived at the scene and had an altercation with the two other men who had accompanied Gavrila in the car.

A 999 call was made and gardaí arrived. They arrested Gavrila and he was taken to a nearby Garda station, where it was noted by gardaí that he was drunk. The woman was taken to a sexual assault treatment unit in her local hospital. Gavrila’s DNA was found on her body.

Gavrila told gardaí he thought the deal brokered by the two other men in the car had included both oral and vaginal sex. He said the vaginal sex was consensual and involved the use of a condom by him.

Gavrila pleaded guilty on the day of his trial. He offered €5,000 to the victim as a token of remorse which the victim said she would take.

In her victim impact statement, which was handed into the judge, the victim described how she became a sex worker to pay for her child’s education and to fund addiction issues.

Gavrila has no previous convictions. He had initially come to Ireland to find employment in the construction industry and had been working in that industry at the time of the rape. The incident happened three weeks after he arrived in Ireland.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt said he took into account Gavrila’s guilty plea which he said was “itself a form of acknowledgment” adding that “a plea has significant value” in sexual offences.

Mr Justice Hunt also took into consideration the fact that Gavrila had worked continuously and was “of previously good character”.

He said the offence was “a serious aberration, but an aberration nonetheless” which can be “explained, but not excused” by Gavrila’s state of intoxication.

Mr Justice Hunt said the guilty plea was “augmented by an expressed apology and a concrete token of remorse”.

He imposed a sentence of four years and nine months but suspended the final six months on condition that Gavrila keep the peace and be on good behaviour while imprisoned and for eighteen months upon release.

Hugh Hartnett, defending, said his client has a partner and two children who continue to live in Romania