A 25-year-old man who committed a violent sexual attack on an American student in Cork has been sentenced to six years.
At the Central Criminal Court yesterday Mr Justice Paul Carney placed Kevin Healy on the sex offenders register and said his crime was "quite frightful".
Healy, of Gort na Fludaigh, Beal Átha 'n Ghaorthaigh, Cork, claimed to be an IRA man and threatened to kill his victim, then aged 21, at Magazine Road, unless she stopped screaming.
The woman told the court Healy had threatened to murder her and she decided that "rather than leave her body to be violated by a pervert" she would surrender.
"He took my chastity," she added.
The judge imposed six-year sentences on the oral rape and aggravated sexual assault charges and three years on a robbery charge and suspended the last 18 months of the sentences.
Det Sgt Tim Murphy told Fergal Foley, prosecuting, that Healy then pretended to call a friend, telling him "he went a bit mad", and giving him the location of where to pick the victim up.
He told her to wait where she was for 15 minutes but after a few minutes she ran to a nearby house, where a woman wouldn't let her in but called the gardaí.
When arrested Healy struck the garda, who took out his baton and hit him.
Healy then overcame the garda and grabbed his "walkie-talkie" before running off towards a cul de sac.
He was caught again when the garda enlisted the help of two civilians.
Healy pleaded guilty to oral rape and aggravated sexual assault of the woman on November 7th, 2004, and robbing a garda radio valued €2,000.
The victim told Mr Justice Carney her life has not been the same since.
Simple things such as going to the grocery store, church or a mailbox had become "terrifying tasks" she was unable to complete without the assistance of a friend.
Healy told the court that his conduct that night was inexcusable.
"Sorry is only a five-letter word, that is all I can say, but I really mean it."
He said he hoped to use his time in prison to continue to confront himself and hoped that at some stage he could forgive himself.
"I hope also to be forgiven, but I don't expect to be."
Mr Justice Carney placed Healy on the sex offenders register and said his crime was "quite frightful".
Det Sgt Murphy agreed with Patrick MacEntee SC, defending, that Healy did not get treated for a fractured arm as a result of the baton strike until the following morning.
Healy told Mr MacEntee (with Ronan Munro) he was abused as a child by a distant family member.
He often wet himself in class because he was too scared to use the bathroom.
This led to his being bullied through school.
Mr MacEntee said Healy was attending Alcoholics Anonymous and counselling, and the best option for this "very confused man" was rehabilitation so that he was no longer a danger to young women or himself.
Healy had not completed his thesis for a master's degree in UCC because he had been suffering from depression and was not able to concentrate.