A playwright and arts administrator has been remanded in custody for sentence later by Mr Justice Henry Abbott after a jury yesterday convicted him of raping a woman following a drugs and alcohol party in his flat.
Francis Condra (46), Upper Magdelene Street, Drogheda, Co Louth, was found guilty also by the jury at the Central Criminal Court of falsely imprisoning the woman on the same occasion, November 8th, 2003.
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 to guilty of aggravated sexual assault and assault causing her harm.
The jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict on the false imprisonment count and a 11-1 majority guilty verdict on the rape charge.
Mr Justice Abbott certified Condra as a registered sex offender and directed the preparation of victim impact and other reports for the sentence hearing.
The victim said in reply to Tom O'Connell SC, prosecuting, that she met Condra and some others in a local pub where she had gone to try to organise a lunar event. He invited them back to his flat where he produced "a tin of weed" and told them all "to help themselves".
She told the jury that her ordeal began after all the others had left Condra's flat at about 2am. She said he dragged her by the hair into his bedroom, thumped her, threw her on the bed, said he was going to rape her and started pulling off her clothes.
She described how Condra then continually raped her, punched her on the face and in the vagina, called her a "whore" and a "bitch", and told her she wasn't getting out until he "came".
She tried to talk to him several times to get him to stop but his reply would be to hit her again and call her names.
She told the jury she tried to call the gardaí on her mobile phone while Condra was out of the bedroom, but he returned and grabbed the phone from her when she told him she was trying to call a taxi.
He said he would kill her and went to the kitchen where he got a long-bladed knife which he held to her throat. He then cut her with it and she also cut her hand trying to push the knife away.
Every time she asked him to stop, he would hit her again and she was screaming throughout the ordeal she claimed continued until about 7 am.
Garda Nigel McInaw said the woman appeared to have injuries and bruising consistent with an assault when she arrived at the station after 7.30am and didn't seem to realise the extent of her injuries.
Garda McInaw said he called an ambulance to bring her to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, from where she was transferred to the Rotunda Rape Treatment Centre.
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, the duvet, sheet and mattress were all bloodstained.
Michael Burlington, a forensic scientist, said that the DNA from the blood found on a heavily stained sheet matched the woman's DNA.
The jury also heard medical evidence that the victim had a 4 cm cut on her vagina among her other injuries.