A former Mayo minor footballer has been jailed for a total of 12 years on three separate charges of rape, attempted rape and aggravated sexual assault in Cos Roscommon, Sligo and Donegal.
Kevin Keegan (21), of St John's Avenue, Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon attempted to rape a Sligo student only days after he was given bail on a charge of orally raping a woman in another town.
At the Central Criminal Court Keegan pleaded guilty to orally raping a woman in Co Roscommon on April 21st, 1997; aggravated sexual assault on a teenage girl in Killybegs, Co Donegal, on the night of May 12th-13th, 1997; and attempted rape in Sligo town on the night of February 15th-16th, 1998.
Mr Justice Carney imposed sentences of five and seven years to run concurrently on two of the charges and a further sentence of five years to run consecutively to the seven-year term for the third offence.
Mr Justice Carney said if Keegan had not used gratuitous violence in two of the offences, the court might have been able to measure the sentences at three years. The court also had to take into account the evidence given by the victim in the oral rape offence of the effect it had had on her. She had become a virtual recluse and had built a high wall around her house.
The woman told the court: "I do believe he should not be allowed to walk the streets anywhere ever again because he is a danger to society".
Mr Justice Carney told her the court was prohibited from taking account of the wishes of victims in passing sentence.
The oral rape offence happened after he broke into the victim's house in the early hours of the morning. She woke to find him standing naked at her bedside. He failed in his attempt to have sex with her against her will and then nearly choked her.
She eventually got him to stop and he fell asleep beside her. The woman told gardai she was petrified and finally got him out of the house. He was arrested for this some months later.
The Killybegs offence happened after his victim approached him and spoke to him. The victim first gave an untrue account to gardai because she was embarrassed to admit she had approached Keegan.
She later agreed she had allowed him walk with her and she led him to the football field where they went into one of the shelters because it was raining heavily. They kissed but he started to interfere with her clothing and attacked her viciously when she tried to stop him. He begged her to let him pull off her trousers and punched her in the face when she refused. The Sligo attempted rape happened after the victim and a friend met Keegan in a pub. He was invited back to her flat and when she came out of the toilet she was surprised to find him sitting on the side of her bed dressed only in his boxer shorts. She thought this was "a bit forward" but sat beside him and kissed, believing nothing more would happen than that.
However, Keegan tried to open her blouse and "yanked down" her trousers while holding her by the neck and attempting to rape her.
He then stopped and apologised but almost immediately attacked her again and tried to strangle her.
Keegan ran off at about 2 a.m. covered only by her duvet and was found naked about 14 hours later by gardai in a nearby back-garden.
Mr Justice Carney said the only thing he found in Keegan's favour was his early guilty pleas and he suspended the final six months in each of the five-year sentences, and the final year in the seven-year term.