The first man in the State's history to have been convicted of raping his wife has been jailed for six years by the Central Criminal Court.
"The man, having promised to love and honour me, held me down and raped me," the 36-year- old victim said in her victim impact statement, read out in court yesterday. "He took what he believed was his. My rights were taken away from me that morning. I felt ashamed and dirty."
Mr Justice Carney said he wanted the sentence to reflect the fact that people would not tolerate the defendant's "backwoods" views that he had every right to have sex with his wife whether she liked it or not.
"The law was changed in 1993. The position taken by him is not tolerated by the will of the Irish people," Mr Justice Carney said.
He was referring to the defendant's later claim that "the law couldn't touch me". He also told gardaí that if the only way he was going to get sex with his wife was to force himself on her, then that was what he was going to do.
The 46-year-old Sligo builder was found guilty by a jury last July of raping his wife on July 21st, 1997, at their house in Sligo. He was found not guilty of the second charge of sexually assaulting her.
Mr Justice Carney noted that according to the probation report, the man still believed in his innocence and was planning to appeal the conviction. While this was his right, he said, his lack of remorse would deny him the leniency usually accorded to those who showed genuine remorse for their actions.