A 24-year-old man has been remanded in custody for sentence next month after he was convicted by a jury of raping a 22-year-old woman after he broke into her home in the middle of the night and attacked her.
Kamal Kumar Nepali of Beech Park, Ballincollig, Cork was convicted of a total of eight charges including raping the young woman at a house near University College Cork (UCC) on March 1st, 2022, contrary to Section 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape) Act 1981.
Nepali, who was born in Nepal and was assisted during the 10-day trial at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork by a Hindi interpreter, was also convicted of trespassing at the woman’s house with intent to commit rape, assaulting the woman causing her harm and sexually assaulting her.
The jury of six men and five women also convicted Nepali of four other charges of entering four other properties near UCC as a trespasser with intent to commit an arrestable offence, all on the same night, which was during student celebrations of Rag Week at UCC.
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Nepali was described as “a predator seeking to rape someone on the night” by prosecution counsel Ray Boland SC, who said the victim wanted Nepali named in media coverage as there was no connection between them and naming him would not identify her.
Nepali showed no visible reaction as the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts after six hours and 39 minutes of deliberations spread over two days, but his victim wept openly as she heard “guilty all counts” before being embraced by family members and investigating gardaí.
The woman had told the jury sitting before Mr Justice Michael MacGrath at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Cork that she woke up on the night in question to find a stranger in her bed with her chest and necked marked by “hickeys” or love bites and the physical feeling that she had had sexual intercourse.
She also told how she believed that the accused took her phone and held it in front of her face to open it using facial recognition technology and then used the phone to send a friend request to somebody as she made no such friend request on the night.
During the trial, Mr Boland said the young woman’s account of what happened on the night never changed, in contrast to Nepali’s version of what happened, which was notable for a number of changes between what he told a friend and what he told gardaí.
Mr Boland said Nepali told a friend he walked up the stairs of the house with the complainant and they had sex, but he told gardaí that he was looking for a place to stay and that the door of the house was opening, and the complainant effectively invited him into her bed when she saw him at the door.
“I am suggesting that what in fact happened is that he took advantage of her drunken slumber, she being unfortunate enough to have the attribute that she sleeps very heavily after drink, that she could sleep through full sexual intercourse and love bites and other bruises.
“She wakes at 7am and has the horror of discovering a stranger in her bed with his arm across her. They have this bizarre conversation and there is the slow realisation that something sexual happened – she has all these ‘hickeys’ on her neck and chest,” said Mr Boland in his closing to the jury.
“Never in a million years would she see a stranger in her house, beckon him to her bed to have sex ... He had some inflated view of himself as an irresistible lover beckoned to have sex.
“It is more than unlikely, it is lies. I suggest to you he was a sexual predator looking for a drunk girl. It was Rag Week. Every second house was a student house. He knows this but what business does he have up around UCC? Rape or at least sexual assault was his purpose in going to those houses.”
Nepali did not take the witness box during the trial and defence counsel John Peart SC said the defence would rely on what his client had said at interview with detectives from the Cork Protective Services Unit and memos of interviews were read into evidence by Det Garda JP Twomey.
Nepali told gardaí: “I went to town. I had a few pints ... I got out of my car and was looking for a bed. [Complainant’s] house was open. I went upstairs. [First name of complainant] woke up. She started kissing me. We started to have sex. She asked me to have sex.
“I asked could I add her on Instagram. I went home and went to sleep. I did not force any girls. I did not rape her. It was a mutual thing. Other than that, I did not do anything,” said Nepali, adding he first went into another room and a woman in bed laughed and told him he was in the wrong house.
In his closing to the jury, Nepali’s counsel, Mr Peart SC, said: “A lot of the facts are shrouded in a mist of drink and bad memory. I will be suggesting to you that it is nigh impossible to come to a decision beyond reasonable doubt.”
Following the eight unanimous verdicts, Mr Boland applied to have the case adjourned to allow gardaí obtain a victim impact statement from the young woman and Mr Peart said he believed that a probation report on his client would assist the court as he had no previous convictions.
Mr Justice MacGrath, who had earlier thanked the jury for their attention and diligence in trying the case, agreed and he remanded Nepali in custody for sentence on January 22nd, 2024 to allow for preparation of both a victim impact statement and a probation report on the accused.
* Anyone affected by this article can contact the Rape Crisis Centre freephone 24-hour national helpline at 1800 77 8888, or in emergency situations the Garda by calling or texting 112.
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