A connemara man who raped a woman after she had returned home from a night out was remanded in custody yesterday for sentencing next week.
Eamon Feeney (31) had used improvised handcuffs when he dragged the woman from her car as she tried to flee, after arriving home to find her home had been burgled.
The woman, who is in her early 40s and lives alone, told the Central Criminal Court she believed she was living her last moments as she struggled with Feeney. She thought he was going to strangle her.
Feeney had waited outside her home for an hour before breaking in. He later told gardai he had been looking for women's underwear.
Earlier he had consumed more than 10 drinks in pubs in Spiddal after leaving his wife and child to the Galway train.
The father of one, with an address at Park West, Spiddal, Co Galway, pleaded guilty last May to the rape on March 22nd, 1997. Insp Martin Lee produced the handcuffs to the court. They comprised three plastic tie straps.
Mr Padraig O'Higgins SC, defending, submitted that Feeney had only intended burglary. He used the plastic tie straps in his work as a mechanic. He said Feeney could have been prevented from leaving the scene by the woman's dog. The woman had confronted him and it was after this the rape took place.
Mr Patrick Gageby SC, prosecuting, had said the attack appeared to be premeditated because of the handcuffs and because Feeney had waited in his car until the woman returned from a night out with friends. He had also disconnected the phone line. Mr Justice Higgins adjourned sentencing until Tuesday.