A Dublin man, who kidnapped and raped a prostitute at the former home of W.B. Yeats, has been jailed for 10 years by the Central Criminal Court.
Stephen Doherty (31), St Mark's Drive, Clondalkin, was convicted on January 16th last by a jury of falsely imprisoning the woman on March 6th, 2000, at Riversdale House, Rathfarnham, and on three further charges of rape, oral rape and threatening to kill her.
The jury acquitted him after two-and-a-half hours deliberations of anally raping her.
The now 27-year-old victim, a former heroin addict, told Mr Justice Carney that having to give evidence at the court had made her relive the experience all over again.
A mother of two, the victim also said the trial had been humiliating for her as the evidence given by Doherty during the trial had been "demeaning" of her.
Det Garda Barry Murphy said Doherty had denied all knowledge of the incident when he was arrested four days later. He only admitted involvement when confronted with DNA evidence gathered from semen he had wiped on a curtain after he forced her to have oral sex.
Doherty, who had approached his victim on a motorcycle, had also kept his helmet on throughout the ordeal, which had made identification difficult.
Det Garda Murphy told Ms Pauline Walley, prosecuting, that until his conviction Doherty had maintained the former prostitute had consented to sex with him.
Mr Justice Carney said in lieu of a Court of Criminal Appeal on February 19th, 2002 (DPP v. N.Y.), which found him "to be in error for not having taken into account the option of non-custodial sentence" in rape cases, he had considered the option in Doherty's case and "dismissed it".
He told the victim, who told him she wanted "to see justice done", that he cannot penalise Doherty for exercising his right to plead not guilty.
It did mean, however, Doherty was not entitled to the usual "discounts and considerations" accorded to defendants who plead guilty, saving victims from a trial and also vacate a trial date for other violent criminals to be tried at the busy court, Mr Justice Carney said.
He said Doherty had clearly premeditated the offence, having approached the former prostitute without, as he admitted in his own evidence, having any money in his pocket.
"It is well-known all over the world that prostitutes do not do business on credit," Mr Justice Carney said.
He sentenced Doherty to 10 years for the rape, three years for false imprisonment and five years for the threat to kill her.
All sentences are to run concurrently and credit is to be given to Doherty for the time he has already spent in custody for the offences.