A Kerry man who attempted to rape a teenage girl on a quiet road has been jailed for eight years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court.
Patrick O'Sullivan (40), Ballyorkane, Keel, Castlemaine, threatened to kill his 16-year-old victim after telling her she was "asking for it" by walking alone on a country road.
O'Sullivan told the terrified teenager she was "lucky this time" after cars on the road scared him away. He pleaded guilty to attempting to rape her near her home on April 24th, 2004.
Mr Justice Carney declared O'Sullivan a sex offender and directed he be placed under five years' post-release supervision. Reports on his mental condition established he "remained a risk for the future".
The court heard O'Sullivan was 39 and the victim 16 when he "jumped out from the hedge" and dragged her by the hair, banged her head off the ground and left her with serious injuries after punching her several times and putting his hands around her neck while she struggled.
Mr Justice Carney said O'Sullivan's threat to kill her was "a credible one". The victim believed it and if he had been convicted of that as a separate offence he would have jailed him for 10 years.
Mr Justice Carney noted the victim had expressed the benefit to her of O'Sullivan's guilty plea, which had been notified before his scheduled trial date.
O'Sullivan was arrested as a result of the victim's description of him and his car. He denied being out that night but gardaí had observed him leaving his home earlier and driving in the direction where he attacked the victim.
When O'Sullivan was told DNA evidence matched his blood with semen on the victim's tracksuit, he claimed it had been planted there by two people who "extracted semen" from him in his house.
Supt Pat Sullivan agreed with defence counsel Patrick Gageby SC that, shortly after his arrest, concern about O'Sullivan's mental health had been expressed by his solicitor. O'Sullivan was diagnosed as suffering from chronic delusions but not insane.
Supt Sullivan said the victim had been walking along the road waiting for friends to arrive in a car when O'Sullivan attacked her.Some cars came and she called out for her friends. O'Sullivan put his two hands around her neck and threatened to kill her, saying "Stop it, bitch" a few times. He also punched her several times.
O'Sullivan left because the passing cars scared him.
O'Sullivan's nine previous convictions included a serious assault with a poker on his father and one for indecent assault in 1995 on a woman in a vacant house. A nine-month sentence for this was changed on appeal to 12 months suspended, on condition that he pay the victim Ir£1,000 compensation.
Mr Gageby said O'Sullivan had been detained in the Central Mental Hospital since June 18th, 2004, when he was arrested after being told about the DNA evidence.