A 46 year old man has been jailed for 16 years by Mr Justice Henry Abbott for raping a woman following a party in his flat in Drogheda, Co Louth.
Francis Condra, Upper Magdelene Street, Drogheda, a former member of the Army and father of a teenage daughter, was found guilty in February by a jury at the Central Criminal Court of raping and falsely imprisoning the woman on November 8th, 2003.
The victim told the jury she met Condra in a local pub where she had gone to try and organise "a lunar event" and had accepted his invitation with some others to go back to his flat. There, she said, he produced "a tin of weed" and told them all "to help themselves".
"Everyone there was smoking cannabis," she said, adding she smoked some "joints" with the others and drank Condra's "medieval mead" which she described as "horrible".
Condra originally pleaded not guilty to four charges of rape, false imprisonment, aggravated sexual assault, and assault causing harm to her but changed his plea on day six of his 11-day trial to guilty of aggravated sexual assault and assault causing her harm.
The jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict on the false imprisonment count following three hours of deliberation, and by an 11-to-one majority on the rape charge after almost six hours of deliberation.
Mr Justice Abbott, who also certified Condra as a registered sex offender, said the rape charge set the tone for sentencing in this case, as there was a series of rapes at the upper end of the scale with "a lot of savage violence and continuous threats of death" involved.
He said Condra therefore deserved "a sentence just short of the maximum" and imposed 16 years for rape, with eight years for aggravated sexual assault, and three years each for assault causing harm and false imprisonment, all to run concurrently.
Mr Justice Abbott said Condra had many chances to have insight into his behaviour from his own rehabilitation and previous brushes with the law and the court could not accept that he might not offend again.
Det Garda Séamus Nolan told prosecuting counsel Tom O'Connell SC (with Garnet Orange BL) that in 22 years in An Garda Síochána he had never come across a sexual assault of such barbarity.
He said that, after his service in the Army, Condra developed a drink and drugs addiction problem during which he "fell into bad company".
Det Garda Nolan said Condra was jailed in 1998 at Dundalk Circuit Criminal Court for six years for a robbery and three years each concurrently for a false imprisonment and burglary.
He was a model prisoner and, while in Mountjoy Jail, wrote and produced a play which was acclaimed.
The balance of his sentence was suspended in 2000 and he moved back to Drogheda where he became involved with the Droichead Arts Centre.
Garda Nigel McInaw told the jury the woman appeared to have injuries and bruising consistent with an assault when she arrived at the station after 7.30am. Garda McInaw said a Garda party went to Condra's address with a search warrant and, as there was nobody there to admit them, they made a forced entry. Items recovered included a bloodstained knife, and the walls, duvet, sheet and mattress were all bloodstained.
Defence counsel Anthony Sammon SC (with Giollaiosa Ó Lideadha BL) said Condra fully accepted the jury's verdict and regretted what he had done.