ALCOHOL abuse is an even greater threat to the public than drugs, Mr Justice Kinlen warned when he sentenced a man to seven years penal servitude for rape.
Mr Justices Kinlen told the Central Criminal Court that "screaming newspaper headlines" frequently warned of the dangers of addictive drugs. However, alcohol abuse presented an even greater risk.
The judge told the defendant, Eddie Fitzgerald, that his alcohol addiction had been responsible for an "appalling" sexual attack on a woman.
Mr Justice Kinlen said he had considered imposing life imprisonment, but because of the overcrowding in prisons and the revolving door system, this could mean as little as six years.
If the defendant used his time in custody to attend Alcoholics Anonymous and alcohol awareness meetings, he would review the sentence in four years. There was an urgent need for more social workers to staff such programmes.
Fitzgerald (26), a father of three, of Balcurris Road, Dublin, pleaded guilty to raping the woman on April 17th 1993.
Insp Malachy Geraghty told prosecution counsel, Mr Anthony Kennedy SC, that Fitzgerald was known to the woman. He was quite drunk and "roaring and shouting" when he called to her home after midnight.
He claimed he wanted to sober up before going home to his girlfriend. After eating a meal and drinking a can of beer, he made advances to her. Despite her cries of "rape", he had intercourse with her against her will.
Initially she was afraid to report the attack to gardai but eventually she did and Fitzgerald was arrested. He absconded to England and had to be extradited.
Insp Geraghty said that when arrested, Fitzgerald claimed "I didn't rape her. I'm not a sick man". In a final statement he claimed that, while they had intercourse, he had not forced himself on her.
Defence counsel, Mr Patrick Gageby SC, said his client had not been involved in hostility which forced the woman to go to live in England.