Declan Brennan
A 28-year-old Waterford man has been jailed for eight and a half years for raping a 16-year-old girl.
In January 2019 the man, who cannot be identified to protect the victim's anonymity, had called to the home of the victim's older sister in Waterford city. He found the teenager alone and the defendant pushed his way into the flat.
He then picked the girl up, carried her into a bedroom and raped her. The teenager asked him to stop, but he ignored her.
Afterwards he asked her was she okay. When she replied “are you serious,” he told her “shut up or it will happen again”. He told her that if she told anyone about what happened, he would kill her.
The man stayed in the flat and the frightened victim rang her sister to ask her for help in getting him to leave. She later told her sister what had happened, and they went to gardaí.
Gardaí arrested the man, who then claimed that the victim had come on to him, and he had pushed her away, telling gardaí “I have five kids”.
Forensic analysis
He denied he had any physical contact with the girl and said he had no idea why she would make the allegations which he said were “sick”. In a later interview, gardaí showed the defendant results of forensic analysis which detected his semen on the victim's clothing.
He tried to claim the DNA was from his saliva that the victim had wiped off the floor. He said he wouldn't “put it past” the teenager to have artificially picked his semen off the floor and wiped it on her clothes.
The man was sent forward for trial at the Central Criminal Court, where on October 19th last he pleaded guilty to a charge of rape on January 12th, 2019 at a place in Waterford city.
In her victim impact statement, the girl said: “You spent this time living your normal life as though you had not committed the crime of raping a child.
“While those 1,003 days I spent just existing and going through hell. That night you threatened me if I ever told anyone you would kill me, and I believed you.”
The man's 85 previous convictions include theft, drug offences, criminal damage and one for threatening to kill or cause serious harm, Detective Garda Ann Marie Myler told Antonia Boyle BL, prosecuting.
Maybe you believed I would be like the two out of three rape victims that do not report what has happened to them or the 50 per cent of victims who withdraw their statements?
In her statement, the girl said she was going to school afraid of seeing her rapist or his family and constantly looking over her shoulder.
“Maybe you believed I would be like the two out of three rape victims that do not report what has happened to them or the 50 per cent of victims who withdraw their statements?”
Paul Greene SC, defending, told the court that his client is now remorseful and knows “it shouldn't have happened”. He said his client was intoxicated at the time and asked the court to consider his history of self harm and mental health.
Ms Justice Eileen Creedon noted the profound impact of the offence on the victim. She also noted that after pleading guilty, the man continued to minimise the offending, telling probation officers that the teenager had consented to sex.
The Probation Services assessment placed him at a high risk of committing further sexual violence.
Ms Justice Creedon set a headline sentence of 10 years. Noting the mitigating factors of his guilty plea and his late apology, she reduced this by six months and suspended the final year.
Victim impact
In her victim impact statement, the woman said she still does not feel safe, despite the man now being in custody.
“I wish I could say I go to college there (in Waterford) and I meet up with friends in the park or buy my shopping there. But I don't. I cannot do any of those things because of the anxiety and fear it brings of simply not feeling safe.
“I don't feel safe. I never feel safe.”
She said she struggles to perform basic human activities.
“I try to shower quickly, so I do not recall the way you forced yourself upon my body. I spend the night cycling between insomnia and nightmares,” she said.
She said she has developed sleep paralysis, a temporary inability to move that occurs right before falling asleep or waking up which often involves hallucinations.
She said the most distressing of these episodes are the ones where she relives the rape. She said she is following medical advice to improve her mental health and thanked the Rape Crisis Network and Dt Gda Myler for their help and support.
“I hope that by my example other rape victims can find strength and courage... You have it in you to pick yourself up, with the help of others, and fight with every little cell in your body for justice.”
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800 77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/, or visit Rape Crisis Help.
