A Tipperary man with 60 previous convictions has been convicted of raping an elderly widow at her home nearly two years ago.
Joseph Cummins (20), St Joseph's Park, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, was convicted by a jury at the Central Criminal Court in Limerick yesterday of raping the pensioner who is now aged 75.
Cummins, whose identity could not be disclosed until now, denied two counts of raping the woman on May 22nd, 2005, and a further charge of stealing money from her home.
After the unanimous guilty verdict was returned, it was revealed that Mr Cummins had amassed 60 previous convictions despite his young age. The court also heard how he was on bail at the time he committed what Mr Justice Paul Carney described as an "appalling outrage".
During the week-long trial the victim gave a harrowing account of how she was raped twice by an intruder.
The widow, who lives alone, described how her assailant pulled her nightdress over her face while he raped her for "what felt like about 10 minutes. I kept asking him to stop, that he was hurting me, he said if I did not shut my mouth he'd really hurt me."
After suggesting some other sexual indignities the woman then described how her assailant anally raped her.
She said she tried to scream but she had a pain in her chest and could not catch her breath, the court heard. "He said 'there's nothing wrong with you' and that I was well able for it."
When her assailant finally left the house with her purse containing about €135, he warned her not to call the gardaí, the court heard. "He said, 'I wasn't here, and if any gardaí are brought I'll be back and I'll really hurt you. You'll never walk the streets again'," she said.
A forensic scientist told the court the pensioner's DNA was found on underwear belonging to Cummins.
Dr Dorothy Ramsbottom said there was a one in 600 million chance that DNA samples taken from the front area of his underpants would match anybody else's other than the complainant's.
Dr Ramsbottom also said the that chance of a DNA sample taken from a shirt belonging to him matching somebody other than the complainant's was one in a billion.
During the trial, the jury was told that the victim was unable to identify Cummins in an identity parade at Nenagh Garda station after he was arrested. She had however given gardaí a detailed description of what her assailant was wearing on the night she was attacked.
Upon hearing this description, Garda Paul O'Driscoll remembered seeing Cummins wearing the same clothes on the previous day. He was subsequently arrested and his clothes were seized during a search of his home, the court heard.
Before dismissing the jury yesterday, Mr Justice Carney complimented the gardaí from Nenagh on their work in the case and praised in particular Garda O'Driscoll for his "classic police observation work".
He also praised Supt Catherine Keogh who led the investigation into what he said was an "appalling outrage" perpetrated on an elderly woman. He declared Cummins a sex offender and remanded him in custody.
Sentencing in the case will take place on March 12th at the Central Criminal Court Dublin.
Speaking after the guilty verdict was returned, the victim, who was in court through the trial, said she was relieved that it was finally over. "I'm glad we've come to the end of it. I'm very happy with the jury's verdict," she said.
Accompanied in court by her five daughters and one granddaughter, the pensioner agreed that the town of Nenagh would be a safer place now that Cummins was behind bars.