A convicted armed robber and drugs dealer has been found guilty by a jury of raping his partner's teenage daughter after she returned home in the early hours of the morning from the Vatican disco in Dublin city centre.
Christopher Griffin (37), of Ridgewood Green, Swords and formerly of Canon Lillis Avenue, in the north inner city, was remanded in custody by Mr Justice Paul Carney for sentence in April. The jury at the Central Criminal Court returned unanimous verdicts on all charges before it, following just under five hours of deliberations on day 10 of the trial and after spending one night in a hotel.
Griffin was convicted on one count of oral rape in 1998, one of rape in 2001 and nine charges of indecently assaulting the victim on dates from 1993 to 1998.
The now 21-year-old victim consented to having Griffin named in media reports of the trial. Griffin, a father of two daughters, had pleaded not guilty to the charges at the start of his trial in December.
Mr Justice Carney directed that Griffin be registered as a sex offender and also that a victim impact report be prepared for the sentence hearing.
Det Sgt Walter O'Connell told prosecuting counsel, Ms Deirdre Murphy SC (with Pádraig Dwyer BL), that Griffin's 18 previous convictions included a nine-year prison sentence in 1987 for robbery and drugs dealing and three years, also in 1987, and six years in 1986 for firearms crimes, including possession of guns and ammunition.
The trial was held in Cloverhill Courthouse for security reasons due to tensions, including alleged threats to kill, and involving the use of guns, grenades and knives between feuding factions in the north inner city area.
Det Sgt O'Connell, on the direction of Mr Justice Carney, told the court of serious incidents where firearms and grenades had been used by opposing factions to intimidate each other as a result of this trial. He said the incidents included two fatal shootings in the inner city area - that of Gerard Byrne on December 13th, just after this trial began, and of Stephen Ledden in his own house on December 27th.
Det Sgt O'Connell said that five shots were discharged on October 7th, 2005, through the front sittingroom window of Griffin's home. He was struck by one bullet causing an injury to his elbow, but though he came face to face with his assailant and should have been able to identify him, Griffin would not co-operate with the Garda investigation.
A lone gunman alighted from a car at Oriel Street in the inner city area at about 6am on November 5th, 2006, and walked into a nearby street where he fired three shots into the complainant's family home, "two into the upstairs bedrooms and one into the downstairs sittingroom".
Det Sgt O'Connell said that a few minutes later shots were fired into another house in an adjacent area, "two shots through the sittingroom window, one through the hall door and two into a man's jeep".
Nobody was injured in either incident, although the houses were occupied at the time. Gardaí recovered four shell cases from the first scene and five from the second shooting.
The next night a hand grenade was thrown at about 9.35pm into the rear garden of Griffin's home in Swords and when it exploded caused extensive damage to the rear patio door, the ceiling in the house and a paved area in the garden.