A 32-YEAR-OLD Cork man has been jailed for six years after the Central Criminal Court heard the woman he raped had twice attempted suicide as a result.
The victim later told gardai that, when he had finished, the defendant said, "that's all I wanted", and kicked her.
Prior to the incident, he had "showered the woman with unwanted attention" and she had considered him to be a nuisance, prosecuting counsel, Mr Patrick Gageby SC, said.
The victim was a "vulnerable" widow with a drink problem before the incident. After being raped, she scrubbed herself with a toilet brush and three days later had slashed her wrists, Del Sgt Tom Myers told Mr Justice Carney.
The defendant, who cannot be named to protect the victim's identity, pleaded guilty to committing the offence on the 34-year-old woman in Cork during
December, 1994.
Det Sgt Myers told Mr Gageby (with Mr Carroll Moran) the victim was a rather vulnerable lady who had been widowed years earlier.
She was friendly with the defendant's fiancee, but sometime before the attack he began calling to her home late at night and she considered him to be a nuisance.
One night in December, he called to her and she admitted him. As she passed him to make him tea, he tripped her and tore off her underclothes. He then raped her.
Days later, she attempted to take her own life by slashing her wrists, and she did this again some time later. Her five children had been taken into care, Det Sgt Myers said.
In reply to Mr Brendan Grogan SC (with Mr Kieran Hughes), Del Sgt Myers said he was not aware that the woman may have tried to kill herself on previous occasions. But he agreed the woman had been admitted to hospital with depression following the death of her husband in 1991.
The detective also agreed with Mr Grogan the offence was reported to gardai after the defendant called again to the woman's house in January, 1995.
He told gardai he had come to apologise to her for his behaviour. The defendant admitted to gardai that, during the rape, he "knew she was not consenting, but she was not resisting too much".
Mr Justice Carney said among the factors he took into account were the defendant's guilty plea and confession, his employment and lack of previous convictions.
Against the defendant he took into account the gravity of the crime, the victim's vulnerability, her two suicide attempts and the fact that her children were taken into care. But for the last two factors, the sentence would have been one year less, he added.