A MAN who buggered a teenage milkman in his city centre flat was jailed for seven years by the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
Mr Justice Shanley described the buggery as "a brutal, unsolicited sexual assault" which he noted from a medical report had caused the victim to develop a frightening, debilitating psychiatric illness".
Denis Timmons (46), of Thomas Court, Dublin, was found guilty in October by a jury after a four day trial of the rape of the youth under Section 4 of the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act, 1990, on March 10th, 1994.
The jury of three women and nine men heard the victim describe how he screamed in pain while Timmons raped him saying: "I like breaking you in". It reached its unanimous guilty verdict in two hours.
Garda Patrick Normile said Timmons had one previous conviction in 1988 when he was given a five year suspended sentence by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for demanding money with menaces.
Garda Normile told Mr Joseph Mathews SC (with Mr Conor Devally), prosecuting, the victim had improved a lot as a result of the conviction.
Mr Barry White SC (with Mr Luigi Rea), defending, said Timmons was a single man from the Ballyfermot area who left school when he was 15. He retired from the Army after 18 years service. He suffered an accident while in the State's service which led to him suffering from epilepsy.
Mr White said Timmons was a man of "dull to normal" intelligence and the judge could see from the reports that his client's attitude to the offence left counsel with difficulty in making a plea of mitigation.
Mr Justice Shanley said the assault had been extremely traumatic for the victim, who had been put through the ordeal of giving evidence. The victim had been admitted to hospital in February 1995 with suicidal tendencies.
He noted Timmons suffered from epilepsy, anxiety, depression and heart trouble. He had had a stable relationship with another man for the past four years, but they did not cohabit.
Mr Justice Shanley said life imprisonment was the maximum permitted for the offence. The only mitigating factors he could find in determining sentence were that the victim seemed to have recovered reasonably well and Timmons's bad health.
He had to impose a sentence which would take into account the protection of society and deter others.
During the trial, the victim said he was in a pub with an elderly friend and they were joined by Timmons, who also knew this man. The youth said he drank up to nine pints of Guinness and Timmons offered them a lift home.
After he dropped off the older man, Timmons said he was expecting an urgent telephone call in his flat and drove there. The victim said he was not feeling well and accepted an invitation from Timmons to lie down. Timmons raped him on the bed.
The jury was also told the youth had to be held down by his brother and mother when he got home in a hysterical state and related what happened to him.