A Cork man who raped his former girlfriend on the Old Head of Kinsale has been given two concurrent life sentences by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court.
The life sentences are to be suspended on a date to be determined which would take into account the statutory remission the defendant would be entitled to on a nine-year sentence and if he is well behaved.
The 25-year-old Cork city man pleaded guilty to the rape and aggravated sexual assault of his victim on November 1st, 1997. He had brought her to the Old Head of Kinsale in the boot of his car and with her hands bound.
The court heard he threatened to throw himself over the cliff and to drive himself and his victim into the sea. He suffers from a chemical imbalance which affects his mental state, especially with alcohol and drug abuse.
Mr Justice Carney said he would have imposed nine-year sentences, with one year unconditionally suspended, on both charges but he had been left "totally in the dark as to his [the defendant's] continuing danger" to the victim and society and also as to the victim's continuing apprehensions and fears.