Courts

Rapist (67) jailed for life after subjecting wife to ‘25 years of hell’

Woman says she often thought about letting herself die so pain would end, but knew she could not leave children with their father

Central Criminal Court judge Ms Justice Melanie Greally said the woman was subjected to a 'litany of physical and sexual abuse' throughout her marriage. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh
Central Criminal Court judge Ms Justice Melanie Greally said the woman was subjected to a 'litany of physical and sexual abuse' throughout her marriage. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh
Eimear Dodd
Tue Jul 16 2024 - 13:36

A man has been jailed for life for habitually raping and assaulting his wife, subjecting the woman to “25 years of hell”.

Imposing sentence on Tuesday, Ms Justice Melanie Greally said the victim was subjected to a “litany of physical and sexual abuse” throughout her marriage. She said a victim impact statement highlighted the “unending nightmare” the woman had endured and the “vast damage” caused to her by her husband.

The 67-year-old Carlow man had pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 12 sample counts including nine of rape, two of sexual assault and one of assault causing harm. All of the offending took place at the family home on dates between 1991 and 2015. The man cannot be named to protect the victim’s anonymity.

He had been due to stand trial on a total of 52 counts including rape, sexual assault and assault causing harm earlier this year, but the guilty pleas to 12 counts were accepted by the Director of Public Prosecutions on a full facts basis, with the remaining charges to be taken in consideration.

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Ms Justice Greally said the rapes were “of the most egregious kind” and noted there were multiple aggravating factors, including the severity of the offending, its prolonged nature and the “immense breach of trust”. She noted the regularity of the offending and that it was committed for “excitement and sexual pleasure”.

She noted “the use of gratuitous violence” which often took a “cruel and sadistic form” and that the offending occurred in the family home with acts of violence in the presence of children. She set a headline sentence of life for the rape offences due to these aggravating factors and “the incalculable harm” caused to the victim and the family unit.

Ms Justice Greally noted the mitigation and the man’s personal circumstances. She said the guilty plea came at a late stage, weeks before the trial had been due to start, and that until this point the victim had faced the prospect of giving evidence. She said the man must face the “full consequences of his deplorable actions”.

In a victim impact statement read to the court during a previous hearing by prosecuting senior counsel Paul Murray, the woman said she’d been given a life sentence and “can’t make a deal and in a few years, I get to be free”.

“We will never be free from the hell you put us through,” she said.

Addressing the man, she said: “When I walked down the aisle to marry you, I thought I was walking to meet my partner, the one I could count on, someone to share a family with, go through good and bad times with. I didn’t get that man. I met a monster, one who would destroy our dreams beyond repair.”

She said the man put her through “25 years of hell” and that she often thought about letting herself die so the pain would end, but she knew she could not leave their children with him. “We escaped you and I feel lucky we did. My only regret is that we didn’t do it sooner.”

An investigating garda told the court that the man began to rape the victim in the early stages of their marriage, with the sexual abuse occurring regularly. The woman said the accused would rape her as a form of blackmail including for money to feed their children.

She said the man had a habit of leaving the house and coming back in the middle of the night. He would then wait at the bottom of the bed like an intruder until she woke up and then rape her. She also outlined occasions when the man would break into the house and then rape her.

The victim told gardaí that the man became more excited the more she struggled and when she showed signs of injury or distress. The abuse also included oral rape, attempted rape and sexual assaults.

The court heard there was a three-year break in the man’s offending between 2001 and 2003. It started again after the man suggested a “master plan” where he would give his family money for food, but they would have to “beg” for anything else and his wife would be “his sex slave”. She refused to accept this, the court heard.

The final rape took place in 2012 and the last sexual assault in 2015. The woman applied for a barring order against the man that year and sometime later made a complaint to gardaí. She said she considered applying for a barring order earlier in the marriage, but was afraid of what the man might do.

The man was arrested in December 2018 and denied the allegations of rape. He has three previous convictions, including for sexual offending, dating back to the 1970s.

There was also a frequent pattern of physical violence in the marriage. The woman lost a tooth in 2004, which her daughters told gardaí was caused by a blow to her face. The woman’s daughters recalled constant violence, including their mother being kicked in the stomach and her fingers being bent back until they snapped.

One of the daughters gave a statement saying that she once told a friend: “Back in a minute, Daddy is strangling Mammy against the hot press.”