Wexford man sentenced to nine and a half years in prison after raping his ex-partner

The 37-year-old pleaded not guilty to six counts of rape at an address in County Wexford on 18 May 2017, but was found guilty of all charges by a jury at the Central Criminal Court in March.

To protect the victim’s anonymity, his name cannot be disclosed.

Sentencing on Monday, Judge Siobhan Lankford said the sentence was one of a series of sex crimes committed that night.

It imposed a prison sentence of ten and a half years, with the final year suspended, and dated the sentence backdated to 14 March this year for the time she had spent in custody.

The man must stay away from the victim for life and is now on the sex offenders’ register.

Judge Lankford said the abuse was at the upper end of the offence and the aggravating circumstances included that it occurred in the victim’s home while she was sleeping and that he took her from her bedroom.

She said it was a violent, sexual degradation and humiliation that lasted all night, including because he strangled the injured woman until she was unconscious.

In her defense, she stated that the defendant suffered from addiction problems and had a very difficult childhood.

The court concluded that the defendant was three years older than the victim, who is now 33 years old.