Man jailed for raping homeless Limerick woman in alley

A man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for raping a homeless woman in County Limerick five years ago.

Cristian Gogosiou, 37, of Mount Kenneth Place, Limerick, had pleaded not guilty to one count of rape and one count of oral rape at a location in the county on 26 September 2019. He was found guilty of both counts by a jury at the Central Criminal Court in Limerick earlier this year.

The court heard that the woman, who cannot be named to protect her identity, was 31 years old and was living in homeless accommodation at the time of the incident.

Detective Garda Enda Clifford told the court the woman was struggling with homelessness and addiction.

She said she met a well-dressed man with a beard who asked her for sexual intercourse. He promised to give her 6,000 euros and jewelry.

The woman said she had to use the bathroom and went down an alley. He pulled out a medium-sized switchblade knife and said he was going to “cut her insides out.” He pushed her against the wall and penetrated her vagina without her consent. A used condom was later found on the floor. She was taken to the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit.

It took a year to establish his identity, but on September 16, 2016, Gogosiou was finally arrested by police. He admitted to having sexual intercourse and oral sex with the woman, but said she had offered to do so in exchange for money.

During questioning, he said he exploited vulnerable women “because it was easy.” He did not accept the jury’s verdict, the court said.

The court heard that Gogosiou, who is from Romania, has 37 previous convictions and 12 foreign offences in this jurisdiction. The court heard that the aggrieved party did not appear in court because they did not want to see Gogosiou again.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the woman said she was suffering from addiction issues at the time of the events.

She said she had been overwhelmed with emotion and severe fear since the events, and thought she shouldn’t bother going to the police because they wouldn’t believe a homeless person.

Judge Siobhan Lankford imposed a 10-year prison sentence, suspending the final two years retroactively to May 23, 2022, as the term had already been served, and ordered Gogosiou to be placed on the sex offenders’ register.

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She cited the use of a knife as an aggravating circumstance and the jury rejected her defense that she did it for the money.

The judge said she could not agree with Mr Cody’s view that the offence was of a low severity, with the defendant’s vulnerability, the degrading nature of the crime scene and his failure to confess being considered aggravating circumstances.

She said the offence fell into the category of a 12-year prison sentence, but this was reduced to 10 years because he is Romanian and has to serve a sentence in an Irish prison. She also noted that he has three children, one of whom is in Romania.