A man was given a four-year suspended sentence for rape yesterday when his victim accepted his offer of £7,000 compensation.
In April a Central Criminal Court jury had convicted Joseph Coogan (35), of Dunsink Avenue, Finglas, of raping a woman who was sleeping overnight in his neighbour's house after a birthday party on January 5th, 1997. The jury took less than one hour to return a unanimous verdict after a six-day trial.
Sgt Stephen Good told the Central Criminal Court that on the night in question the victim had retired to bed with her partner, who then returned to a party downstairs. Later she awoke to find another man in her bed raping her. Coogan denied all charges. He had no previous convictions.
His counsel, Mr Hugh Hartnett SC, noted that in a victim impact report a doctor concluded that, in essence, it was not a case where lasting damage had been caused.
Mr Hartnett said his client had offered the victim a sum of £7,000 as a token of his regret. Prosecuting counsel Mr Anthony Sammon SC said he was instructed that the victim was accepting the sum of money.
The defence counsel said his client had indicated he might be able to give an extra £3,000 to the victim within a year.
Mr Justice Carney said the matter was not up for auction. Mr Hartnett said Coogan had honestly faced up to the charge and was of immaculate character until these events. He had consumed the best part of a bottle of vodka on the night of the rape.
Mr Justice Carney noted that a surprising number of crimes relating to sex offences involved a woman resting in a room and waking up to find someone "inside her".
He sentenced Coogan to four years' imprisonment, but suspended it because the offer of compensation had been accepted by the victim.
He said it was not the courts' practice to mix compensation with a custodial sentence. "I would not have adopted this course if it wasn't fully fraught within the mind of the victim", he said.
In his trial evidence, Coogan had claimed that the woman had consented to sex when he got into her bed at around 5:30 a.m. "It just happened. It wasn't rape. It was consensual", he said.
The woman told the jury she woke up to find Coogan on top of her, having sex. She got him off her and recognised him when he left saying "Sorry, wrong room". She immediately told her boyfriend and others who were in the house, and they went to the gardai.