A Tunisian man who tricked a teenage girl into coming back to his apartment by telling her he was gay has been jailed for eight years for rape and false imprisonment.
Samir Mansour (46), of Windmill Hill, Prospect, Mullingar, had pleaded not guilty to rape, sexual assault, false imprisonment and making threats to kill at his Westmeath home on January 8th, 2010.
The jury returned a guilty verdict on all counts after seven hours of deliberation following a seven day trial at the Central Criminal Court.
Ms Justice Iseult O'Malley remarked that the threats to kill and blind his victim must have been a terrifying ordeal for her. The judge noted that she had suffered bruising, nightmares and flashbacks since the incident as well as an internal injury.
She also took into account the fact that Mansour had lied to his 19-year-old victim about being gay in order to win her trust.
In her victim impact report the teenager said that the attack had left her feeling fragile and helpless on her own. She said the rape had affected every aspect of her life and left her feeling fearful, distrustful and paranoid.
The court heard that Mansour had no previous convictions and had being working as a chef in Pasta Bella restaurant in Mullingar. He has a 14-year-old son from a marriage that is now dissolved.
Ms Justice O'Malley handed down a nine and a half year sentence for the rape and sexual assault charges, and suspended the final 18 months of both. Mansour also received a six year sentence for false imprisonment, and four years for making threats to kill. All sentences are to run concurrently.
Ms Justice O'Malley ordered that Mansour be put under post release supervision for five years upon completion of the sentence.
However, she said that leaving the country would not breach this condition.
The trial heard Mansour met the then 19-year-old victim in a local nightspot and seemed to be chatting her up. When the victim told him she was a lesbian he replied that he was also gay.
He invited her to a party in his place that night but when she went back there was nobody else there. As she went to leave, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back into the room. She said his mood had changed completely and he looked "terrifying".
"You could see the anger in his eyes and I knew something bad was going to happen," the victim told the jury.
She started hitting him as best she could but he was too strong. He took her into the bedroom, ripped off her clothes and raped her, she told the court.
He told her: "Five minutes of this won't kill you, but if you don't do what I say, I will."
He made her give him oral sex and threatened to kill her if she didn't stop resisting. He also threatened to poke her eye out.
She told the man he was raping her but this didn't stop him. She begged him to stop but he responded "it's grand" and "I'm not hurting you".
After a few minutes he stopped, sat on the bed and began crying. He said he was sorry and that she had to forgive him.
She said he said something about being "stoned" and asked her if she would go out to dinner with him.
She said she comforted the accused because she was afraid of him but then fled the house. It was almost 5am when she phoned her father and asked him to come get her.