A man who raped his former partner so violently that she bled heavily has been jailed for five years and ordered to pay €40,000 in compensation.
Imposing sentence in the Central Criminal Court, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said that people could not be permitted to buy themselves out of trouble and that the offer of compensation was only a marginal factor in the sentence.
In a victim impact statement, the 33-year-old woman said that she continually had nightmares reliving the rape. “Sometimes I am lying in the bed in my own blood or being chased by him. I am not the person I was before I was raped.”
“Now I feel like my life is regressed and I am less of a mother because a huge chunk of me was taken away that night,” her statement continued.
The man, also 33, pleaded guilty to rape on January 26th, 2014, in the house they shared in a Dublin suburb. He has no previous convictions.
Mr Justice McCarthy noted that the victim was amenable to an offer of compensation from the man. He ordered that €40,000 be paid over to the victim .
“People cannot be permitted to buy themselves out of trouble,” he said, adding that it would not be appropriate. He said that on the basis of the man’s plea of guilty and his expressions of remorse to the victim he could reduce an initial sentence of nine years to six years. He said the payment of compensation from the man, who had limited means, was a limited factor, and he further reduced the sentence by another year.
Aggravating factor
He noted that an aggravating factor of the offence was the fact the man seemed to have “most arrogantly assumed” he was entitled to have sex with the woman because of their relationship history.
He said the violation of the woman’s home, the breach of trust and the level of violence used were also aggravating.
The court heard the man has €20,000 in a current account and €165,000 in an investment bond. He received a large sum of money in compensation for a personal injury. The judge said he must be permitted to retain some of this money which was needed for future medical care. He ordered €20,000 be paid over within a week and the remainder within a month.
Mr Justice McCarthy noted the case of businessman Anthony Lyons who was jailed in 2012 for six months and ordered to pay €75,000 in compensation for an offence of sexual assault. The Court of Appeal later increased the prison sentence to six years with four suspended after the Director of Public Prosecutions had appealed against the leniency of the sentence.
The judge said that the amount of compensation did not seem to have been of any relevance to Mr Lyons but that the man in this case had relatively limited funds.
Separate rooms
He said the money did not put an injured person into the previous position they were in. He said the compensation may be of scant benefit but it did have a practical use.
The court previously heard the couple had been in a relationship for a number of years but that ended in late 2013. They continued to live in the same house but in separate rooms.
On the night of the rape, the defendant came into her bedroom, turned on a light and took off his clothes despite the woman telling him to leave the room. She continued to challenge him, asking him why he was in her room but he ignored her and climbed on top of her.
Caroline Biggs SC, defending, told Mr Justice McCarthy her client has attended for counselling and the resulting report described him as “open and honest, utterly ashamed and remorseful”. It stated that he would never forgive himself and was concerned for his former partner. He accepted full responsibility for what he had done.