A serial burglar was on bail when he broke into a woman’s house and repeatedly raped her, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Gerard Kane (36) threatened to bury his victim in the back garden and said he would hang himself if she went to the gardaí. During the ordeal he went to the bathroom and returned with “white powder” on his bottom lip before raping the woman again.
As he was leaving he made her promise not to call gardaí, gave her a hug and asked for her number so he could take her out to dinner.
Later that month she went to a Garda station where an informal identity parade was arranged and she picked out Kane as the man who had been in her house.
Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan said he would sentence Kane for the rape in two weeks’ time. Kane, formerly of Dominic Street, Dún Laoghaire, had pleaded not guilty to raping the woman at her home on June 17th, 2011. but changed his plea.
Garda Adam Clear told prosecuting counsel Fiona Murphy that Kane had 26 previous convictions. Kane’s defence counsel, Conor Devally SC, said his client had a chaotic upbringing and that he had fallen into drug and alcohol abuse in his teens.
Counsel said the attack was “opportunistic” and not premeditated. He submitted that Kane was “somewhat institutionalised from years in prison” and that he had tried and failed to get treatment for his drug addiction.