A rapist who lured two friends back to his apartment where he drugged and raped them has been given a 12-year sentence.
Indian national Kapil Garg (35) had promised the girls “ecstasy” but instead gave them antidepressant tablets with a sedative effect before raping them.
Gardaí found a stash of the tablets at his home after the girls managed to escape and alert them of the attack.
Garg has previous convictions in the US including a battery conviction for an incident in 2004 in which he broke into a sleeping woman’s hotel room and began touching her before being chased from the room.
Garg, originally from Mumbai, had been renting a room in a house in Whitefriar Place, Dublin 8, at the time. He has been in custody since the girls reported the incident in July 2011.
He had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping and sexually assaulting the first woman and also denied charges of raping the second woman at his home on July 2nd, 2011. He was convicted by the jury following a seven-day trial last October.
Mr Justice Barry White told Garg it was a pity for all concerned that he had waited until the eve of sentencing to accept responsibility for his “offensive behaviour.”
He said if Garg had admitted his guilt earlier his victims would have been spared giving evidence and hearing his “untruthful testimony” during the trial.
Mr Justice White told Garg he had taken advantage of two young women whom he had enticed back to his apartment with the promise of “e” but instead gave them a drug with a soporific effect which left them unable to resist him raping them.
He said he could not ignore Garg’s previous conviction for battery in the US and said the facts tended to show if he had not been interrupted on that occasion an offence of a sexual nature would have been committed.
Mr Justice White imposed concurrent sentences totalling 12 years and suspended the final three years. He noted time in custody here would be more difficult for Garg as a foreign national. Garg has been registered as a sex offender.
He noted the offer by Garg’s family of €20,000 and the girls’ attitude to it. The girls had indicated yesterday they were “repulsed” by the offer.
The judge said he had no doubt that represented a large sum for Garg’s family to gather and placed a great strain on his elderly parents. He ordered the money be returned to Garg’s family.
The two women gave victim impact evidence that the offences had changed their lives for ever, impacted on relationships and left them struggling to concentrate in college and on exams.
Mary Rose Gearty SC, defending, told both girls that Garg now accepts responsibility for what he did and she was instructed to apologise to them.
The first girl said she was glad she reported the incident but will never stop regretting the decision they made that night to go back to a stranger’s house which she said was completely out of character for them.
“My life has changed forever because of him and he has no remorse” said the first girl, “I fear even with this conviction, he has not learned his lesson.”
The second girl said waiting on the results of STD tests had been particularly hard. She said she also found giving evidence in court difficult and feared she would not be believed.
Ms Gearty said his parents were devastated by the offences but his family had gathered €20,000 instead of travelling to Ireland for the sentencing to offer as a token to the victims or to be put at the courts disposal.
She said this was a genuine offer and “not a well-to-do family throwing money at a problem.” She said Garg would abide by any conditions of sentencing including undergoing treatment.
Ms Walley later told Mr Justice White: “Both complainants are frankly repulsed by the offer.” She said if the money was to be given to charity the girls did not want it given in their names.