A Sligo man who raped his wife weeks after the birth of their child in 1997 has been jailed for six years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court.
Mr Justice Carney said the 46- year-old man had now been convicted in two trials by 24 jurors who accepted his wife's truthfulness and he had also been "completely and totally impressed" by her evidence.
Earlier, the man's estranged wife (39) told Mr Justice Carney that the last 8½ years had been "a total nightmare" and she now wanted to get on with her life and rear her family. "I am just tired, I just want it to end," she said. Her eldest children were reading about the case and hearing it on the radio because it was "all the talk of the community".
"I had to tell the truth because it was said I was lying," she added. "I was not lying. I told the truth. His attitude to me was that he could do what he liked because I was his wife. I just want this to end."
Mr Justice Carney said it was the man's third conviction for this offence. He had been allowed by another judge to resile from his guilty plea and his first jury conviction had been overturned by the Court of Criminal Appeal. He was then found guilty again last November by another jury.
Mr Justice Carney declared him a sex offender and directed that he get full credit for all the time he had spent in custody in relation to this case.
He said the victim was still suffering the effects of the birth of her last child when her husband came home drunk and demanded sex. She offered him a cuddle but he woke her and forced sex on her later.
When she challenged her husband for raping her his attitude was that the law could not touch him. He also told gardaí he was entitled to do what he liked, but the law had changed in 1993.
He then rejected the State's offer to accept a guilty plea in the district court which would have capped his sentence.
Mr Justice Carney said he imposed a six-year sentence after the first trial and he was not going to penalise him for the length of time his wife's truthfulness had been challenged.
Sgt Michael Prendergast told Gerald Clarke SC, prosecuting, that the man had two previous convictions for breaches of barring orders in 1997 and 1998 and had been living outside the jurisdiction for the past two years.
Colm Smith SC, defending, said his client still protested his innocence.
The now legally separated woman told the jury her then husband had raped her in July 1997. She told him she was going to report him to gardaí and he replied: "They wouldn't be able to touch me, I am your husband."