A man who raped a Polish woman on her second night in Ireland has been jailed for 10 years by Mr Justice Barry White at the Central Criminal Court.
Vasile Vardoshilli (37), a Georgian national, married with three children, Greenville Place, Cork, was found guilty by a jury last month of raping, falsely imprisoning and assaulting the now 25- year-old woman in Killarney in August 2004.
Vardoshilli was distressed and cried throughout his sentence hearing. His counsel, Anthony Sammon SC, said he continued to assert his innocence despite the jury's verdict. Therefore, Mr Sammon said, no plea of mitigation could be put forward on his behalf.
Mr Justice White said it was clear from the victim impact report that the Polish woman was a "most Christian and charitable" person who had expressed a wish that her rapist not be imprisoned for a long period and had indicated that she no longer felt hatred towards him.
The victim, who was not in court for the sentence hearing, had expressed concern in the report for the effect Vardoshilli's conviction would have on his wife and family.
Det Garda John Evans told the court that the victim was not a vengeful person and had been "very traumatised by the ordeal of the trial".
During the trial the woman said of her attacker: "I was very afraid of him from the moment I met him."
Vardoshilli came to Ireland in 2000 with his wife as an asylum seeker. Det Garda Evans said his status had since changed as the couple had had an Irish-born child. He had no previous convictions and worked as a "middle man" in getting jobs for foreign nationals.
Mr Justice White said the offence of rape was second only to murder in gravity and there were no mitigating circumstances in this case as Vardoshilli took advantage of "a young, innocent Polish woman". Vardoshilli always asserted that the incident was consensual but Mr Justice White said this had not been supported by the evidence.
"Hospitality was extended to you in this country and you seem to have taken the view you would abuse our laws which are no doubt no different from those in your own country."
The victim told Aileen Donnelly SC, prosecuting, she had come to Ireland to work after hearing from a Polish neighbour that a job had been found for her in Cork.
She was met by Vardoshilli and this Polish friend at the Cork bus depot on August 21st, 2004, and she spent that night at a mobile home complex rented by Vardoshilli.
The next day he drove her and two other Georgians to Killarney where they met other Polish men who had an apartment in the town. They had something to eat and drink before going to a local disco where Vardoshilli tried to kiss and hug her but she pushed him away and continued dancing.
She left the disco with him and returned to the flat where he ordered her into a bedroom and informed her they were going to sleep together. He became very aggressive when she said in Polish and English that she did not want to sleep with him. He then hit her on the face, grabbed her and threw her on the bed.
"I was shaking and crying and it was clear that I did not want to sleep with him," she said. "I was asking him not to kill me."
Vardoshilli then stripped off his clothes, pulled her clothes off and raped her. She was still crying but had stopped trying to resist him for fear for her life. "I did not want to have sex with him. I was crying and he knew that I didn't want to have sex."
Vardoshilli was placed on the register of sex offenders. Leave to appeal the conviction and severity of sentence was refused.