A LIMERICK man who intervened to stop a woman being hassled and who then raped her has been sentenced to 14 years in jail
Timmy Tobin laughed when the woman offered to give him everything she had but he raped her and later forced her to strip and wash in a stream to get rid of evidence, when he sexually assaulted her again.
The next day he handed himself in to gardaí and admitted everything. He said he had raped her because she had rejected his advances and he felt “let down and insulted”.
Tobin (29), Hogan Avenue, Kileely, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to four counts of rape and anal rape against the woman, a foreign national, on August 14th, 2009.
He has six previous convictions including a seven-year sentence for aggravated burglary and a five-year sentence for a serious assault.
Mr Justice Barry White said: “You subjected your victim to a most horrific ordeal over a period of 1-1½ hours. You physically assaulted her, forced oral sex on her, raped her and then anally raped her. You forced her to wash herself in a stream for purposes of eliminating any trace of evidence and then made good your escape.”
He said the effects the incident had on his victim and his list of previous “substantial” offences meant a 14-year term was deserved. He took into account his remorse and that he had handed himself in to gardaí hours after the offence and suspended the final five years on strict conditions for five years. He also ordered that Tobin be added to the sex offenders register.
Anthony Sammon SC, defending, submitted that there was “some decency in his client” demonstrated by his remorse and co-operation with gardaí. He said Tobin had considered suicide after the rape and was no longer with his girlfriend.
The woman’s victim impact report stated that she had scars and deformities in her fingers due to the assault. She said her relationship with her boyfriend had ended because of it and she sometimes had nightmares where she relived the event.
She was forced to stop working in nightclubs and bars because she was frightened of walking home at night and now had no job or money. However, she said she was studying and “putting her life back together.”
Det Sgt Patrick O’Callaghan had told Cormac Quinn, prosecuting, that the woman was out with her boyfriend in Limerick city but they had a row and she went home early. She could not get into her home as she had no keys.
While she was waiting outside, a man approached her and demanded she give him her cigarettes or he would take them from her.
Tobin was passing by and saw this. He told the man to leave her alone and that he was “a McCarthy”, a reference to a Limerick crime gang. The man left the scene and Tobin started talking to the woman. He again said he was “a McCarthy” but she did not know what this meant.
They went for a walk together through a wooded area and he went to kiss her but she just kissed him on the cheek and smiled. He then punched her in the head causing her to fall.
He hit her repeatedly and said: “All I want is sex from you, then you can go home.” She cried and offered to give Tobin everything she had on her but he laughed and said: “What have you got?”
He said if she gave him oral sex he would not do anything else but then he raped her both vaginally and anally.
He took her to the river to wash the evidence from her and said if she went to the Garda he would say they had consensual sex. Then he heard someone approaching and started to choke the woman, making her believe she was about to die. When the passerby left he took her to the river and made her strip. He picked up a rock and threatened to hit her if she did not lie down. Again he raped her.
He washed her again before they started walking away. She picked up a rock and so did he. He told her if she put the rock down he would put his down. She then threatened to kill him if he came near her.
He broke down and apologised to her, saying he had too much to drink and could not control himself. He fled and went to his girlfriend’s house where he confessed what he had done and burned his clothes and mobile phone.