A CONVICTED criminal has been found guilty of raping his aunt in her Cork home.
Colm Kelly (32), with addresses at Davitt Park, Ballybrack and Came Point, Castletownbere, had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to rape, oral rape, two charges of sexual assault and one of false imprisonment on August 25th, 2010.
The jury took just over 2½ hours to reach its verdict on day four of the trial.
Mr Justice Paul Carney thanked the jurors for their care and attention during the trial, and excused them from jury duty for life.
Tim O’Leary SC, prosecuting, told Mr Justice Carney the 54-year-old woman wished to waive her right to anonymity so her nephew could be named.
Det Garda David Leslie told the court Kelly had 67 previous convictions for robbery, burglary, theft, road traffic offences, assault causing harm, blackmail and extortion, and false imprisonment.
Mr Justice Carney registered Kelly as a sex offender, ordered a victim impact statement, remanded him in continuing custody and adjourned sentencing to later this month.
Earlier, the woman told Mr O’Leary that Kelly stayed over that night because his father’s house was full.
She left him sitting on the couch watching television when she went to bed.
The woman said she got out of bed at 1.25am to check a modem downstairs, but let out a screech when she saw Kelly standing at the bottom of the stairs naked.
She said he told her to “shut up” but she told him to calm down.
He then grabbed her by the hair and pushed her up against the jamb of a door before he threatened her and told her he was going to rape her.
She told him that would be incest.
She said he sexually assaulted her twice, made her perform oral sex, and then raped her.
Afterwards her nephew told her he was sorry, and that he knew she was going to call the Garda.
She assured him she would not because she said she did not want people knowing, and it would kill his father.
She told the jury she thought Kelly was going to murder her. He made her swear on her granddaughter’s life she would not call the Garda, and left.
She locked the door, turned off the lights and sat in the dark crying before she went upstairs to call her niece, Kelly’s cousin, and tell her what had happened.