Four teenagers who violently gang-raped a Limerick woman were sentenced to a total of 31 years' detention at the Central Criminal Court today.
Thomas O'Neill, Dean Barry and Darragh Ryan, who are all 16, and 15-year-old Jason Ring, launched the savage attack on the couple after they found them together in Cratloe Woods, Co Clare in the early hours of January 23rd last. Ring was just 14 at the time.
Thomas O'Neill: jailed for ten years for rape, assault and false
Armed with a golf club, a screw driver, a wheel brace and a shovel, the four ordered the couple out of the car and the woman was struck on the shoulder with the club when she refused to give one of them a kiss.
The man was in possession of an extendable baton which he used in his job as a bouncer and when the youths found it they assumed he was a garda and started shouting "do him".
They ordered him into the booth of the car and the woman was pushed onto the bonnet.
She was dragged into the car and the four youths took turns raping her while they threatened to burn the car with her boyfriend in the booth if she resisted. At one point they opened the booth and began to hit the man a number of times with the golf club.
Superintendent John Kerin told the court that the ordeal lasted for over an hour and only ended when the man managed to escape from the booth and summon help from a passing motorist.
O'Neill, Ryan, both from Lenihan Avenue, Barry, from Garrglass, Ballinacurra, Weston, and Ring, from Crecora Avenue, Ballinacurra, all Limerick City, pleaded guilty to raping the 35-year-old woman.
They also pleaded guilty to falsely imprisoning the man, who was 36, and assault causing harm on both victims on the same date.
Mr Justice Carney jailed O'Neill for 10 years because he was described in court as the "ringleader" and "director of operations" and jailed Barry for nine years because the probation report said he represented a continuing danger to others.
He sentenced Ryan to eight years and jailed Ring for the maximum four years for a person under the age of 16. He suspended the final year of O'Neill, Ryan and Barry's sentence because of their age and guilty pleas but said he had no jurisdiction to suspend a portion of Ring's sentence because it was to be served at Trinity House. The other three will go to St Patrick's Institution.
He issued certificates for leave to appeal because he described it as "a serious and unique case and I am not taking personal responsibility for how it is dealt with. Three minds in the Court of Criminal Appeal are more superior than mine."
He added: "I am fully aware that I am dealing with children and they have to be rehabilitated. However, the protection of society is at the forefront of my mind and people can not be exposed to danger by them in a short period of time.
"Because I am treating them as children does not mean I have to deal with them with short sentences and community will have to be protected from their criminal propensities."
After imposing sentence, Mr Justice Carney heard submissions from various parties on identifying the four accused because they were children. He said he was concerned about them being demonised in the tabloids but added that he couldn't differentiate between different types of media or the four accused and made no order in relation to that.
The woman earlier told the court: "My life and the lives of my family were devastated with what happened. A lot of pieces have to be picked up and a lot of pain has to be dealt with. I'm trying to get on and not let it destroy the rest of my life."
The man said their lives were totally destroyed and they went from being ordinary people into a living nightmare.
Supt Kerin told Mr Michael O'Higgins SC, prosecuting, that on the night the youths had stolen a car and proceeded to burgle two national schools in the Limerick and Cratloe area. They had also stolen a bottle of tequila from an off-licence and had drank some wine.
The couple they attacked worked in the same bar in Limerick and had gone to Cratloe Woods in separate cars at about 3.05 a.m. after finishing work. The youths arrived soon after and began to subject the couple to their horrific ordeal.
Supt Kerin said that the man underwent plastic surgery to a severe laceration to his arm in Galway Regional Hospital. He also had cuts to his face and body from being poked with a screwdriver.
All the youths were arrested in the area shortly after because the gardaí had been promptly called by the passing motorist and officers were nearby investigating the break-ins at the two schools.
The officer added that crime in the south Limerick area had been significantly reduced since the arrest of the four accused.
Counsel for all four told Mr Justice Carney that not a lot could be said in mitigation because of the appalling circumstances surrounding the case but asked him to take into account their very young ages and that all had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.