BREAKING NEWS: Tipperary man who raped woman at house party sentenced to seven years in prison

A man who raped a woman at a house party four years ago has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Tadgh Lonergan (28), of Kilsheelan, Clonmel, Tipperary, was sentenced on Monday to eight and a half years in prison, with the final 18 months suspended on strict conditions.

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’s name being mentioned in the case report.

Sentencing on Monday, Judge Tony Hunt said the aggravating factor in this case was the impact on the victim.

He found that the rape had taken place in a room where she was staying and that she had the right to feel safe there.

In his ruling, the judge said the court often sees young men who “seem to believe it is their God-given right to wander into the bedrooms of people they do not know.”

The judge went on to say that this was a case of “an extraordinary willingness to take risks” and that, according to the court’s findings, it was “something that occurs every day”.

“This case shows that there are serious consequences for people who take such risks and things go wrong,” Judge Hunt said.

The judge noted that there were some limited mitigating circumstances, including Lonergan’s employment history and lack of previous convictions.

The judge said that given Lonergan’s personal background, it was “all the more surprising that he carried with him the kind of attitude that brought him to this place.”

“You would think he would be capable of learning the lessons that life has to offer, but that is obviously not the case,” the judge said, adding that Lonergan did not accept the jury’s verdict, his misconduct or the impact on the victim.

Judge Hunt said the court could therefore “assume that the attitude which gave rise to this offence continues to exist”.

He said Lonergan’s behavior that night showed a “selfish” view of sexuality and he “should know better.”

Judge Hunt said Lonergan’s denial amounted to “defamation” of the victim, and the court concluded that Lonergan’s position was that she was a “consummate actress who lied her way through meetings with the police and two trials”.

He said the court found that the victim had actually suffered extreme stress and was not just “very good at simulating the effects of that stress”.

“He must stop deceiving himself in this matter and in his handling of sexual issues,” the judge said.

Judge Hunt ordered that Lonergan serve an 18-month suspended sentence after his release, have no contact with the victim and not commit any further sexual offences during his lifetime.

At an earlier hearing, Judge Hunt acknowledged evidence that Lonergan had previously worked at stud farms, including Coolmore Stud in Tipperary.

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.

At an earlier sentencing hearing, the woman took the witness stand to read her victim impact statement and have it recorded.

“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.”

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 was “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 there had been two trials in the case after the 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 they had a “low-key” conversation.

Later, she went to bed. She was in the bathroom brushing her teeth, and when she came back into 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.” During the rape, she tried to push the man away. 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 reported that she was 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 primary care doctor attributed to her high levels of stress.

She described an unhealthy relationship with food, saying that immediately after the rape she had trouble keeping 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 was no longer the person she once was and the whole process overwhelmed her.

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

She said she left her teaching job and didn’t know if she would be able to continue her career in education, but she left to live closer to home and closer to her family and friends.

The woman said that although she has a new job, she still has problems at 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 liked to travel but was unable to do so now, 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 had affected not only her but also her family, 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 “terrifying 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.