THE RAPIST at the centre of the “C” case in the 1990s has been found guilty by a Central Criminal Court jury of raping an 86-year-old woman after breaking into her home last year.
Simon McGinley (35), Latlorcan Court, Monaghan, originally from Dundalk, was previously jailed for 12 years in 1998 after pleading guilty to raping the then 13-year-old girl at the centre of the “C” case in August 1997.
McGinley had pleaded not guilty to raping the woman in June 2008 and to burgling her home but was convicted by the jury on day nine. He was found not guilty of burglary.
Mr Justice George Birmingham certified McGinley as a sex offender and remanded him in custody until July for sentence. The victim, who was certified as unfit to give evidence, had told the psychiatrist who treated her that she was not upset by the rape, and that “my faith has helped me”.
In a deposition to an earlier hearing, the woman said she had opened her door on hearing a knock at about midnight. A man pushed her inside, caught her by the arm and brought her first to a small bedroom and then to her own room. She was not going to fight because “he could have kicked or battered me”. She said he raped her repeatedly during the night.
She said the man came back in the next afternoon but she closed the door on him. She cried for about three hours before calling her neighbour. Gardaí were alerted and she was seen by a doctor. Garda Lorna Doherty told Mr Carroll BL that she was a passenger in a patrol car when her colleague noticed McGinley “staggering” on the footpath and pointed him out to her.
Garda Doherty said he appeared to be intoxicated and was wearing a stained shirt. She said they continued on to the woman’s house and she noticed some injuries on her face and hands.
She said the woman was distressed, that she was “teary-eyed” but not crying and was clear in her account.
Garda Adrian Durkan said he arrested McGinley later that day and when interviewed he denied raping the woman or ever being in her house. He said he had been in his father’s house that night.
Garda John Grant said he was present when McGinley was interviewed the following day. McGinley said he had been at the victim’s house about five months previously when he was helping a relative who had been power-washing the woman’s house. He said he did not go inside.
Garda Grant said when he asked McGinley to explain how his fingerprints had been found inside the house he said they had fitted the hose on to the sink in the kitchen or bathroom of the house and he had used the toilet.
When asked how his fingerprints had been found in the bedroom, McGinley replied: “I can’t explain that.”