A Limerick man who participated in a savage gang rape of a woman in a Clare wood last year has been remanded in custody by Mr Justice Paul Carney for sentence on June 27th.
Stephen Barry (25), of Roxboro Road, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to four charges arising out of the crime at Brickhill East, Cratloe, Co Clare, on January 23rd, 2004.
He admitted raping the victim, assaulting her causing harm, false imprisonment of her and her male companion and assaulting him. He pleaded guilty to a fifth charge of stealing a bottle of tequila on January 22nd, 2004 at Fine Wines, Thomond Gate, Limerick. Four other Limerick teenagers were given jail and detention terms of up to 10 years by Mr Justice Carney on July 30th last year for their roles in the crime in which the gang locked a man in the boot of a car and then took turns raping the woman.
Thomas O'Neill, Dean Barry and Darragh Ryan, who were all 16, and then 14-year-old Jason Ring, launched the attack on the couple after they found them together in Cratloe Woods, Co Clare, in the early hours of the morning.
Supt John Kerin told the court last July that armed with a golf club, a screwdriver, a wheelbrace and a shovel, the gang attacked the couple. While attacking the woman they threatened to burn the car with her boyfriend in the boot if she resisted.
At one point they opened the boot and began to hit him with the golf club. Supt Kerin said at the 2004 hearing that the ordeal lasted for over an hour and only ended when the man managed to escape from the boot and summon help from a passing motorist.
O'Neill and Ryan, both from Lenihan Avenue, Barry, from Garryglass Avenue, Ballinacurra, and Ring, from Crecora Avenue, Ballinacurra, all in Limerick city, pleaded guilty to raping the 35-year-old.
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.
Mr Justice Carney suspended the final year of O'Neill, Ryan and Barry's sentence because of their age and guilty pleas.