A man who raped a woman relative in his Sligo home last year has been jailed for eight years by Mr Justice Eamon de Valera at the Central Criminal Court.
Ladislav Pavlak (36), a former member of the Slovakian police force, is a divorced father with an address at Ougham, Riverstown.
He cried persistently during the sentence hearing.
He was convicted by a jury earlier this month following an eight-day trial of raping the then 20-year-old woman on August 14th, 2006.
Pavlak was found guilty by a 10-2 majority on the rape charge and by 11-1 majority of sexually assaulting the woman on the same occasion. He had denied the charges.
Mr Justice de Valera said he had searched for reasons to impose as lenient as possible a sentence on Pavlak and having reviewed recent sentences in these cases he had to impose an eight-year term for the rape charge and four years for the sexual assault.
He said there had been a serious breach of trust in that the victim had been placed in Pavlak's care on that night by her family. He was also the father of two daughters and a former police force member who should have known better.
Mr Justice de Valera noted that he was a person of blameless character prior to this.
He took note also of the submission by defence counsel, Martin Giblin SC, that Pavlak being "a stranger in a strange land" would find prison here harsher than an Irish citizen and accordingly suspended the final two years of the eight-year sentence.
The sentence dates from August 15th, 2006, when Pavlak was taken into custody and leave to appeal conviction and sentence was refused.
Mr Justice de Valera also certified Pavlak for registration as a sex offender.
Sgt Martin Donoghue told the court that Pavlak had never come to Garda attention before this event and he had no convictions in Slovakia where he had been a technician with the police force until his retirement following a serious accident.
Sgt Donoghue said the victim was taken to hospital as a result of a drug overdose after Pavlak raped her while she slept over in his house after it was arranged with her family that he would help her get a job.
The jury also heard how Pavlak was awoken by being slapped on the face by the victim's mother demanding to know what he had done to her daughter.
He was then punched and kicked by members of the family and locked himself back in the house for safety.
Pavlak gave evidence denying he raped her and claimed they had consensual sex the previous week when the victim also stayed over by arrangement following a party at his home.