A Co Clare man has been jailed for 12 years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court for a "drink-fuelled" sexual assault on a Limerick student in a caravan park.
Brian Mulvihill (29) of Lislanahan, Kilkee, pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a then 20-year-old woman in Co Clare on August 6th, 2004.
Mr Justice Carney described the facts of the case as "appalling" and said he was taking into account the range of penalties, fixing the crime on the scale and discounting for factors in favour of the accused.
He said he was also taking into account the aggravating factors such as the effects of the attack on the victim, who wept openly, and "the evidence of my own eyes and the condition she is in in front of me".
Mr Justice Carney fixed a 10-year sentence which he increased to 12 years after noting that Mulvihill's plea had come just before a jury was scheduled to be sworn in for his trial and he could not be given the full benefit of an early plea.
He backdated the sentence to August 29, 2006, and directed 10 years post-release supervision. Mr Justice Carney also directed that Mulvihill be registered as a sex offender.
The victim wept in court as Garda Oliver Downes read her victim impact statement in which she detailed how she had attempted suicide since the attack.
She said: "As far as I am concerned my life had been destroyed and I feel I would be better off dead." She had been hospitalised for a week after a suicide attempt she had been planning for weeks "unfortunately did not work" and was placed on 24-hour suicide watch by nurses.
"My body was the only thing that was mine and he took that from me. He gave me a life sentence and I don't see any end to it." She described how the area had been an important part of her life as far as she could remember. She had often gone on holidays there but said this had been taken away from her and "it now holds my worst nightmares".
She said going to college had become a "daily struggle". She found it difficult to study and had failed some exams, jeopardising her degree. She said she also loved her job "but when you are wishing yourself dead every day, work and college are the last thing in your mind."
Garda Downes told Ms Deirdre Murphy SC, prosecuting, that the attack happened after a night's socialising in the caravan park where the victim was staying. She returned to her caravan at about 11.30pm but found she had mislaid her keys and Mulvihill, whom she had met earlier, and herself had climbed in through the window.
He said she had tried to stop Mulvihill kissing her and he then ordered her to take off her underwear. He tried to force her legs apart as she begged him to stop. He forced her to masturbate him and to digitally penetrate him as she cried and found it difficult to breathe.
Garda Downes said Mulvihill used his knees to spread her legs and made an attempt to have sexual intercourse. She asked him to stop to which he replied "shut up, bitch".
Mulvihill said to her "I know you wanted it rough" and kissed her on the forehead before leaving.
Garda Downes said a complaint was made by the victim the next day. He agreed with Mr John Phelan SC, defending Mulvihill, that his client's eight previous convictions, mainly for road traffic offences, were drink related.
Mr Phelan described the victim impact statement as "harrowing" and submitted that his client had instructed him to apologise "with all the sincerity he can muster" to the victim.
He said his client had developed a dependence on alcohol in his 20s.