A CONVICTED sex offender who raped a woman in the ladies toilet of a Nenagh fast food restaurant two years ago has been remanded in custody for sentence by Mr Justice Paul Carney.
David Power (27), Brittas, Thurles, Co Tipperary, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping the woman in Supermacs in Nenagh on January 28th, 2007.
Power was previously jailed for terms of five years on October 5th, 2001 and for three years on October 29th, 2002 by Mr Justice Carney for aggravated sexual assaults on women in Cork city in June and September 2000.
Power had been a private in the Army, attached to Collins Barracks in Cork, at the time of his earlier crimes, but had left the Defence Forces when jailed.
The woman told Mr Justice Carney that the rape had affected her as “a woman, girlfriend, daughter, sister, friend, work colleague and human being”. She said her family and community had rallied around to support her.
She said she had been a very social person in the past but found her “sense of safety in the world severely threatened and compromised” after the attack and she kept the Garda number on speed dial while socialising.
Power read from a letter he had prepared for the court and told the victim: “From the bottom of my heart I am so sorry for what I did to you.” He told Mr Justice Carney that he had tried to get access to treatment in custody.
Power’s mother told Mr Justice Carney that her son had been sexually abused as a child and as an adult and she was anxious that he receive therapy. “I am asking you as a mother to help my son. I am pleading with you,” she said.
Mr Justice Carney said he had already tried to help her son twice by imposing sentences for his previous offences which might now be considered moderate.
Garda Joan Larkin told the court that the victim was on her way home from a nightclub with her boyfriend when she needed to use a toilet. They stopped at Supermacs and she went upstairs to the ladies toilet while her boyfriend waited outside.
The woman said as she opened the door of a cubicle she was pushed inside by a man who grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around. She said she struggled but could not get free and shouted to people coming in and out but could not be heard above the loud music in the toilets.
CCTV in the restaurant showed Power going in and out of the ladies toilets. He initially denied remembering anything of the incident but subsequently made admissions.