Woman raped at house party in Tipperary felt like a ‘prisoner’ in her own life

The woman gave her victim impact statement at the sentencing of Tadgh Lonergan (28) of Kilsheelan, Clonmel, Tipperary.

Lonergan was found guilty by a jury at the Central Criminal Court last month after pleading not guilty to the rape at a house in Tipperary on June 6, 2021.

His victim wishes to remain anonymous but has stated that he has no objection to Lonergan being named in the case report.

The woman took the stand to read her victim impact statement into the record.

“He made me feel like a prisoner of my own life,” the woman said, adding that she hoped Lonergan might now use his time in custody to reflect on “how selfish he was – how totally unacceptable his behavior was and how he destroyed my life.”

“I am determined to get back to my old self with continued support,” the woman concluded, before asking Judge Tony Hunt to “consider the profound and lasting impact this crime has had on my life.”

Judge Hunt told the woman he often noticed that other people in her situation, when making a victim impact statement, talk of their determination to move on with their lives because “otherwise the person who wronged them wins”.

“It’s not going to be easy,” Judge Hunt acknowledged, before saying he hoped the woman could adopt that approach. He added that he hoped the fact that she had used her own voice in giving her victim impact statement would help her in some way.

Judge Hunt ordered Lonergan to be remanded in custody until July 29 for sentencing. Lonergan was denied bail and remanded in custody following his conviction last month.

Judge Hunt accepted evidence that Lonergan had previously worked at stud farms, including Coolmore Stud in Tipperary.

The judge referred to a sentencing hearing he had heard the previous week and noted that news reports on the case had highlighted experiences of employers and future employment opportunities for convicted individuals.

“In cases such as this (Lonergan’s case) I have no choice, and do not wish to have any choice, but to impose an immediate custodial sentence,” said Judge Hunt, adding that the case with which the previous one was compared was a Circuit Criminal Court case and not a Central Criminal Court rape conviction.

He said it was simple because the person before him was going to prison – “so there is no immediate prospect of employment. Future employment is a matter for the prospective employer and the prospective employee,” Judge Hunt said.

He accepted a letter from Lonergan’s partner confirming that he had no criminal record.

“But in the context of such an offence, his previous good character goes up in smoke,” said Judge Hunt.

Defence lawyer Coleman Cody SC said his client was the youngest of three children and his siblings were in court to support him.

He said his client’s character had many “positive aspects” and presented a letter from his partner stating that Lonergan was in a committed and stable relationship.

“He will still be a young man when he returns to society,” Cody said, before asking Judge Hunt to recognize that a prison sentence would be more difficult for a person like Lonergan than for others who are more familiar with the criminal justice system.

Mr Cody asked the court to accept that Lonergan “will be publicly known as a person convicted of such an offence”.

Judge Hunt said the evidence in the case showed that it was a “completely normal evening” and that two young people were now on trial “whose lives had been turned completely upside down”.

A local sergeant told prosecutor Eoghan Cole SC that the case had been tried twice after a jury failed to agree on a verdict in an earlier trial this year.

She said the woman was 26 when she attended a friend’s party in Tipperary. Lonergan later came to the house and the woman said there was an “unremarkable” conversation between them.

Later, she went to bed. She had brushed her teeth in a bathroom and when she came back to the room, Lonergan was there. He tried to kiss her, but she told him, “No, that’s not happening.”

The sergeant agreed with Mr. Cole that Lonergan forcibly kissed the woman and bit her on the neck before forcing her onto the bed and raping her.

The woman later said it was “the worst I’ve ever felt.” She tried to push the man away during the rape. Eventually she managed to get to the bedroom door and found it was locked. She managed to get out of the room and went to the bathroom.

The woman said she heard other people asking Lonergan, “What the hell did you do to her?”

Mr Cole said during the trial it was heard that screams were heard from the room and that the woman was shouting: “Help… get off me.”

The woman reported the rape to police and was later treated at the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit. She had bruising on her neck, thigh and ankle.

Lonergan was arrested on June 29, 2021 and interviewed six times. He denied any wrongdoing.

He claimed that the woman had lovingly touched his leg earlier in the night.

He said he was upstairs and saw the woman in one of the bedrooms. He went in to talk to her. He claimed she asked him if he was seeing anyone else before consensual kissing and consensual sex occurred.

Lonergan said someone knocked on the door and the woman told him to stop, so he stopped.

He claimed that she made up the accusation because she was simply embarrassed by the fact that they had sex.

The woman said the rape had torn her life to pieces and “caused her pain to a degree I never imagined possible and that it had affected my physical, emotional and psychological well-being.”

She said she never thought something like this could ever happen to her and described the rape as “an out-of-body experience.” She said she felt “completely powerless, disgusted and horrible in my own body.”

The woman described scrubbing so hard that her skin became irritated and sometimes bled. She described her hair falling out in clumps and developing numerous infections, which her GP attributed to her high levels of stress.

She described an unhealthy relationship with food, saying that immediately after the rape she struggled to keep food down without gagging or vomiting. She described the same problems leading up to the trial.

She said she feels isolated because she feels like no one can truly understand the pain and fear she experiences on a daily basis. She suffers from flashbacks, nightmares, sleepless nights and bouts of severe depression.

“I lived in constant fear – simple things like leaving the house or going to work were too much for me. I was afraid of meeting him or another perpetrator again,” the woman continued.

She said her “sense of security has been replaced by a sense of vulnerability.”

She said she is no longer the person she once was and the whole process is overwhelming her.

The woman said that at the time of the rape she had “a dream job in a city I loved – I long for that time.”

She said she had quit her teaching job and did not know if she would be able to continue her career in education, but she had moved away to be closer to home and friends.

The woman said that although she has a new job, she still has difficulty with work and sometimes has to rely on the help of a colleague to fill in for her in the classroom.

She said she would have loved to travel but was unable to do so at the moment, adding that the rape had “massively affected my dream of traveling and my quality of life.”

The woman said Lonergan “destroyed my love for life,” adding that the rape affected not only her but also her family members, who “watched me suffer and felt helpless in their attempts to support me.”

She said the rape had “ripple effects that reached every corner of my life and that is something I will carry with me forever.”

When asked what it was like to have to testify at the trial, the woman said it was “terrible to be so close to him (Lonergan) in a courtroom.”

“My physical wounds have healed, but the emotional scars will remain forever,” the woman continued.

She said she has had “a complete loss of confidence since he raped me” and described her “low self-esteem.” She said Lonergan made her feel so worthless.