Rapist treated drunk schoolgirl ‘like a dog’, judge says

A Donegal man has been jailed for seven years for repeatedly raping a teenage schoolgirl when she was too drunk to resist.

Ms Justice Tara Burns said the man, now 25, treated the woman “like a dog” when he raped her in a field.

She said he took advantage of her half interest in him and her drunkenness to subject her to vile and despicable attacks.

The victim, now in her 20s, told the Central Criminal Court the attacks changed her from a happy, trusting girl who enjoyed life to a fearful traumatised adult who struggles with panic attacks.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, denied four counts of rape at two locations in Co Donegal on a night in July 2016. After a trial last month a jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on all counts.

The court heard the man had met the victim previously and they had kissed. On the night of the rapes the victim and her friend planned a camping trip and invited a number of friends but nobody was available to join them.

The man and his friend were contacted and the four met, procured two bottles of vodka and began drinking in a field. They split into pairs and the man and the teenager kissed.

At one point she fell back and the man got on top of her. She tried to get up and he pushed her back. The victim said no but he raped her.

He turned her over and anally raped her and repeated these actions again and again, whispering “good girl” to her.

After the attack the woman was falling around drunk and the man brought her back to his house and raped her twice again. “You brought me back to violate me all over again. I couldn’t move. I was so drunk and in so much shock that physically I was there but mentally I was gone,” the woman said, in a victim impact statement.

Ms Justice Burns said after the first series of attacks the woman had walked back to her friend, became upset and told the man to go away when he approached.

“Despite this and her drunken state he subjected her to another vile attack, treating her almost like a dog to gratify his sexual desire on a drunk girl,” the judge said.

The judge said she would give him some benefit for the acknowledgement of his guilt and expressions of remorse, despite these coming late. She reduced an indicated headline sentence of nine years to seven years.

She noted also his previous good character and the fact he is a father figure to three young children. She noted too the serious effect of the attacks on the victim, and “how broken” she appeared in court.