A Cork woman “asked God to take her in” after she was raped by a friend in her family home

A young Cork woman who woke up to find a boyfriend raping her in her family home said she went to a church after the attack and asked God to take her with him.

The woman read out her victim impact statement at the Central Criminal Court at the sentencing hearing for the 25-year-old man who was sentenced to six years in prison today.

He was convicted by a jury on January 27, 2020, following a trial of rape and sexual assault at her home. He has not yet been convicted.

Ms Justice Eileen Creedon said the injured party had a right to feel safe in her own environment but was raped and sexually abused in her own home by someone she knew.

Advantage

She said the defendant took advantage of the victim’s vulnerability as he was clearly drunk.

The judge said it was clear that these events had an impact on the young woman’s mental health, emotional and physical well-being.

She pointed out that the defendant had claimed at the time that it was consensual, but reports before the court showed that he now had a better understanding of consent and that accepted informed consent could not have been given as both parties were drunk.

Judge Creedon handed down a total sentence of eight years for rape and five years for sexual assault.

She noted in mitigation that he had accepted the jury’s verdict and expressed remorse. She also took into account his stable family circumstances, his character credentials and his good professional history.

The judge imposed concurrent sentences totaling seven years, with the final year suspended.

During a court hearing last month, the woman explained in her victim impact statement that there had been a big celebration in her local community following her sports team’s success in a final. She said a lot of people drank a lot.

She said she had never worried before about the man staying at her house. Her parents hadn’t hesitated to give him permission to sleep on the couch that night to save him the trip home.

“We could never have imagined the outcome of that night,” she said.

“I woke up to him raping me… his arms pressing on my shoulders. I turned around and told him to stop but he never stopped, he continued,” the woman said, before adding that she left the room when she “got a chance.”

“I haven’t felt this way since that night. It touched me so much that it’s hard to describe. I gave up the sport I loved. I lost all self-esteem and felt like I had lost myself,” she continued.

Screaming

She said she began abusing medication meant to help her sleep. “I woke up screaming,” she said, before describing instances of self-harm and suicide attempts.

“Nobody could rely on me. I couldn’t rely on myself. I drank. I couldn’t manage my thoughts. I was a shell of myself. I was afraid of men and felt pain everywhere. Life became so difficult,” she said.

“I went to a church and asked God to take me,” the woman continued.

However, she said: “After a lot of hard work and intervention, I am a different person today. I will give you back the shame,” the woman said to the man.

“I no longer choose to live in the shadows. I’m in a better place now. I returned to (my sport) and the gym. This is a new chapter for me. I owe it to myself and my family. I’m looking forward to my future.”

She concluded her statement by thanking the gardaí, her counselor and her family “for getting me through this”.

A local officer told Paul Greene SC, prosecuting, that the woman had gone to bed after the celebrations at the local pub.

When she woke up, she felt arms pressing on her shoulders and heard someone talking and moaned, “Oh my God, this is good.”

She realized she had been raped. She told him to stop but he kept saying how good it was. She managed to turn around and the man began to sexually assault her.

She didn’t scream and managed to get out of bed. She later told gardaí she knew it was the defendant.

The Garda gave evidence of communication between the defendant and the woman, including messages to her that night which went unanswered as she was asleep at the time. One of the messages read: “Of course I would have liked to kiss you.”

Claim

Garda said the man was arrested after the woman made a complaint. He had a different memory of the night and claimed the sex was consensual.

The Garda agreed that both the man and woman had consumed a large amount of alcohol during the night.

He agreed with Ronan Munro SC, defending, that the defendant had lived in the woman’s close social circle for a number of years but there had never been a romantic relationship between them.

Mr Munro said that through co-operation with the Probation Service his client now accepted that in the circumstances of that night “consent could not be given”.

“She was not in a position to consent and that was never the case,” the lawyer said, before adding that his client had “apologized in that regard.”

He said various witness statements and evidence before the court suggested this was “out of character” for his client and asked the court to accept the lack of a criminal record.

Mr Munro presented the case law he wanted the judge to take into account when sentencing his client, acknowledging that the probation report suggested his client still had a lot of work to do.