Sex offender pleads guilty to raping woman in shop

A CONVICTED sex offender has been remanded in custody for sentence for raping a woman in Co Tipperary in the period since he …

A CONVICTED sex offender has been remanded in custody for sentence for raping a woman in Co Tipperary in the period since he came out of jail for previous offences.

David Power (26), Brittas, Thurles, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping the woman in a shop in Nenagh on January 28th, 2007.

Mr Justice Paul Carney directed that Power be registered as a sex offender under legislation and remanded him in custody for sentence on February 2nd next.

He also directed the preparation of a victim impact report.

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Power was jailed for terms of five years on October 5th, 2001, and for three years on October 29th, 2002, by Mr Justice Carney for aggravated sexual assaults on women in Cork city in June and September 2000.

He pleaded guilty to the aggravated sexual assault of a 28-year-old prostitute in a car park near Fitton Road in Cork at about midnight on June 2nd, 2000.

Power also pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault on a Cork woman on September 29th, 2000, after he jumped on her as she was walking home from work on Stable Lane, off Copley Street.

"He is an evil man who I have no doubt will reoffend," the victim in the September crime had told Mr Justice Carney when Power was given the five-year sentence. "I want justice for what he has done to me and to prevent it from happening to another woman."

She added: "I would like to see him sent to prison forever."

The woman said she now suffered from depression and was constantly nervous.

Power had been a member of the Army at the time of the crimes, attached to Collins Barracks in Cork, but had left the Defence Forces when jailed.