A Co Offaly man was found guilty in the Central Criminal Court last night of raping a student in Donegal two years ago. Joe Finnerty (34), of Birr Road, Shinrone, was remanded in custody by Mr Justice Carney to January 16th for sentence. He had pleaded not guilty during the five-day trial.
A jury of six women and six men took almost six hours to convict Finnerty on a charge of raping the 24-year-old woman in a car at Corkey, Manorcunningham, Co Donegal, on June 1st, 1995. The jury failed to agree on a second charge of raping her on the same date.
The victim told the court she had been at a night-club with friends celebrating the end of their exams in Letterkenny RTC. She danced with a "nice" man she met there and accepted a lift home in his car.
Finnerty also got into the car with the hood of his sweatshirt pulled over his head. The car was driven in the opposite direction to her house as Finnerty was to have been dropped home first. But he refused to get out of the car.
The car stopped a second time and the men had a conversation on the roadway. The driver walked away and Finnerty drove to the driveway of a house where he raped her twice, she said.
Finnerty, in evidence, said her account of another man was "a figment of her imagination". He claimed he had met her in the night-club by arrangement and they danced and kissed.
He said she agreed to go for a drive in his car and consented to sexual intercourse. He also claimed he was ill-treated in Letterkenny Garda station. However, the judge said it had been indicated to the jury in the trial that Finnerty had no complaints to make about his detention.