A convicted rapist who was extradited from the US in August has been jailed for seven years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court.
Michael Christian Moran (29), Woodgrove, Tullow Road, Carlow, absconded six years ago before he was to be sentenced for raping a then 27-year-old woman as she walked home from a hen-party on July 18th, 1999.
While living in Boston he started a roofing business and had relationships with two women who gave character evidence on his behalf. He has a five-month-old son by one of the women. He was arrested after it was broadcast in Boston that the FBI were looking for him.
Moran originally denied the rape, sexual assault and false imprisonment of the woman but then pleaded guilty on July 24th, 2001 to the crime on day two of his trial. Mr Justice Carney, who directed that Moran be registered as a sex offender and to undergo five years' post-release supervision, said: "The saddest thing from his point of view is that if he had not gone on the run this case would be over for him by now."
Mr Justice Carney described Moran's comment in his evidence that he had hoped his victim would have got on with her life as "beneath contempt". He said that his guilty plea had been negated "by the continuing effect" the rape had on his victim whose impact evidence he said he had found very helpful.
Mr Justice Carney also directed that the transcripts of all the hearings in this case should be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions so that an investigation could be carried out "as to whether or not this court was misled in evidence given to it concerning his whereabouts".
Moran told gardaí he could not recall raping the victim and had only intended touching her.
The victim said at the start of her impact statement that when Mr Justice Carney told her at the last hearing in 2001 that she should give such a statement at the time she did not want to. Mr Justice Carney interrupted to tell her that making a victim impact statement was "entirely voluntary" and the woman agreed she was now making it volutarily.
She said it made her "feel sick to my stomach" that she had to live without closure as a result of Moran absconding. She said she woke up the following day at home "black and blue with bite marks all over me" but had to learn to cope. Giving evidence in the trial was "the hardest thing I ever had to do; if he was sorry why did he put me through this?"
The victim said she still could not go out and relax because "everyone in the town knows it happened to me and feels sorry for me but I didn't want this".
Moran's partner said he told her about the rape before they moved in together. Jennifer Shaw said he had a very serious alcohol problem when they met but he had been dry for three years. "The person I knew bears no relationship to that crime," she said.
Moran said he felt "immense shame and sorrow. I will always be tormented by what I did and hope today will bring closure . . . I am fighting hard against depression and I'm truly and deeply sorry for my victim," he said.