The 19-year-old Dublin man who claims he was brutally raped at knifepoint by two inmates in Mountjoy Prison told the High Court yesterday he was being kept in a unit close to another prisoner jailed for having sex with a corpse.
The alleged rape victim told Mr Justice Murphy he lived in dread of being raped again and was staying in his cell for up to 20 hours a day. The man, who cannot be named, was granted a judicial review in which he will challenge the manner of his detention. It will be heard next Monday.
Mr Vincent Heneghan, counsel for the applicant, said he was now dropping an application of habeas corpus in which the legality of his client's detention had been challenged. He said it was now accepted his client was in lawful detention but it was intended to review the circumstances in which he was being held.
The alleged rape victim broke down while giving evidence and after leaving the witness box threw himself crying into the arms of his mother. He told the court he shared a cell with his brother, who kept a vigil on his cell to make sure such an attack would not happen again. He was in dread of being raped again because his brother was due for release on Monday next.
The court has already heard that the man was brutally raped at knifepoint by two other inmates while he was going to the toilet in Mountjoy Prison. Mr Heneghan said his client had been a slow learner and had experienced educational difficulties from the age of four.
He had attended special schools all his life. He said the prisoner had been jailed for four years on robbery charges and had been transferred from Wheatfield prison to Mountjoy by direction of the prison authorities.
It would be his client's case that that the prison authorities were not catering for his special needs and that he was being treated in a cruel and inhumane manner.
"Lawful detention does not and should not amount to cruelty," Mr Heneghan said.