A man who repeatedly raped a woman in the grounds of a west Dublin church and school has been jailed for 12 years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court.
Richard Finn (20) subjected the Polish woman to over two hours of rapes on July 22nd, 2007 during which he used his mobile phone to film her. The phone was never recovered.
Finn of Rockfield Drive, Clondalkin was soon identified by gardai as the rapist from her description of him as well as information arising out of two similar type attacks on females around the same time.
He pleaded guilty to rape and oral rape of the victim who he had grabbed from behind at about 7.30am on Convent Road, Clondalkin while she walked to work and then forcibly detained her in the grounds of the Church of Immaculate Conception and Scoil Mhuire until nearly 10am.
The victim said in her victim impact statement that the horrific ordeal had completely changed her life in a negative way. She has returned home to Poland and didn’t travel back for the court hearing.
Mr Justice Carney said that aggravating factors included Finn’s filming the victim and the distress caused the victim by the fact that the camera-phone he used has never been recovered.
He said she found the violence being carried out on her on consecrated grounds especially distressing in view of her Polish Catholic upbringing.
Mr Justice Carney directed that Finn’s name be added to the register of sex offenders and that he undergo five years post-release supervision.
He said he was required by the Supreme Court to identify the range of penalties available to the court and where on that scale to place the crime before discounting on such matters of mitigation available.
Mr Justice Carney noted that following a judgement by the Chief Justice that drink or drugs afforded no defence and little by way of mitigation but he took account of Finn’s early plea which, he said, meant the victim didn’t have to travel back from Poland though she would have done so if necessary.
He accepted also that Finn had indicated genuine remorse and his previous convictions were not significant. He directed that Finn be given credit for the time he has spent in custody since September 2007.
Earlier, Mr Justice Carney said he wanted to note in public that he had received a number of what he described as “letters of support” for Finn from a parish priest and others parties he named.
Defence counsel, Mr Michael O’Higgins (with Mr Bernard Condon BL), told Mr Justice Carney that the “referees” who provided the testimonials for Finn had been informed he had pleaded guilty to rape for which he was to be sentenced and they hadn’t written them “in a vacuum” .