Man Jailed For Imprisoning And Raping Former Partner In Her Westmeath Home

Tuesday, 25 February 2020 08:11

He imprisoned the woman and their 3 year old child during the incident.

A man who imprisoned his ex-partner and three-year-old child and threatened to burn the house down before assaulting and raping the woman has been jailed for 12 years.

The man pleaded guilty to carrying out a number of offences, including assaulting the woman and fracturing her jaw during the May 2016 incident. However, he continues to deny he raped her, a Central Criminal Court sentence hearing was told.

He was found guilty of raping the woman by unanimous jury verdict following a trial in December last year.

Passing sentence yesterday, Mr Justice White said this was an incident of the “utmost seriousness”, which was all the more serious because it was inflicted on the man's former partner and the mother of his child.

Mr Justice White said the offending was aggravated by the horrific nature of the violence inflicted on the victim. He said a further aggravating factor was the man continuing to harass his former partner for a period of six weeks subsequent to the offences.

He said he did not consider the guilty pleas of the man “really that beneficial” as the victim had to give evidence in two separate jury trials. He said the only mitigation taken into account were the sad circumstances of the man's life when he was a young child.

Mr Justice White sentenced the man to 12 years imprisonment.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, the woman said she had changed since enduring the “horrific” false imprisonment and sexual assault at the hands of her ex-partner.

“I'm not me any more and I don't know if I ever will be again,” she said. “I was at your mercy and you showed me none.”

She said she continues to have nightmares of being raped in a burning home as her child screams “mammy”.

She no longer leaves her home unless she has to, has been unable to return to work and has lost friends who were intimidated by the man, she said. She already dreads him being released from custody.

The 32-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect his victim's anonymity, pleaded guilty in July 2018 to assaulting the woman, damaging her phone and producing a carjack handle in the course of an assault at her home in Westmeath on May 14, 2016.

He also pleaded guilty to harassing her between May 14, 2016 and June 30, 2016.

The man stood trial in July 2018 and was found guilty by a jury of falsely imprisoning the woman, threatening to kill her, threatening to burn her house down and producing knives in the course of the assault.

He was found guilty of rape following a separate trial last year. He has 28 previous convictions, including convictions for assault and false imprisonment.