A homeless Algerian national has been jailed for the oral rape of a drunk man he found lying unconscious on the ground after a night out drinking with friends.
Brahim Maddi (36) pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to sexual assault and oral rape at a place in Dublin city centre on a date in May 2019.
A local garda told the court that the victim had been out drinking with his friends in the city centre and was heavily intoxicated. CCTV footage showed him sitting down on the ground and falling face forward onto the ground and he remained lying there.
Maddi went up to the victim and took €5 from his back pocket. He rubbed the man’s buttocks through his clothes, then lay on top of him and began to rub himself on the man.
He began masturbating and then left. He came back a number of times and on the fourth occasion he orally raped the victim.
CCTV shows the the victim lying face down and motionless throughout the sexual assaults. Security staff raised the alarm and gardaí arrested Maddi near the scene.
They found the victim lying face down, unresponsive but breathing. He was brought to hospital. The court heard that when he woke up his trousers were down and his behind was sore.
Maddi admitted sexually assaulting the victim and said he was asleep at all times. He told gardaí that the victim passed him on the street and he followed him.
Passing sentence on Monday, Mr Justice Michael White said the victim was unable to fend for himself and in a vulnerable situation.
“The defendant cruelly exploited this situation instead of looking out for him,” he said. He noted the impact of the offence on the victim and set a headline sentence of seven years imprisonment.
He reduced this to four years after taking into consideration the mitigating factors, including Maddi's admissions, his guilty plea, and his "genuine" remorse. He noted that Maddi was himself a vulnerable man who had left Algeria due to difficulties over his sexual orientation.
He said Maddi also has a history of schizophrenia.
In his victim impact statement, which was read out in court by his father, the victim said that in the days following the crime he was suicidal. He said he wanted the pain to go away and the easiest way was jumping out a window.
He said he felt guilty for putting his family through it. He said that anything he had or would achieve had been cheapened.