A west Galway youth who raped a teenage neighbour and left her unconscious in a shed has been jailed for eight years by Mr Justice Carney at the Central Criminal Court.
John Paul Joyce (18), of Kingstown, Clifden, told gardai he did not know if his victim was dead or alive when he left her.
He pleaded guilty last July to committing the rape shortly after 10.30 p.m. on May 23rd, 1998.
His victim, who asked that Joyce be named in the media, read a long statement in court about the effect the rape had on her. She said her life had been "completely turned around by the actions of one vicious person".
"I thought I was safe with him because he was my neighbour. I couldn't believe someone I should have been able to trust could do something so barbaric," she said.
Mr Justice Carney said he had to take account of Joyce's age and his early guilty plea, but he also had to note the effect his crime had on his victim as disclosed by her "eloquent testimony". He suspended the final year of Joyce's sentence because of his guilty plea.