A GALWAY man has been jailed for 10 1/2 years for raping a 16 year old girl he lured to his home during 1993. Mr Justice Flood, at the Central Criminal Court, told Paul Cullinane that the appropriate sentence was 12 years.
This crime was a "premeditated act of considerable violence" by Cullinane who had been jailed for six years in 1982 for an unrelated offence of unlawful carnal knowledge against another girl. But he reduced the sentence to account for time Cullinane had already spent on remand.
The judge acknowledged Cullinane's evidence of having turned his back on crime and said he could seek leave to apply for review of the sentence on June 1st, 2000.
The court's attitude then would depend on professional evidence that he had been assessed for, and was willing to take part in, a sex treatment programme and was no longer a danger to the public. "The matter is entirely in his hands now," said Mr Justice Flood.
He commended the victim, saying she had shown herself to be a "remarkable woman". She had told the court that delays in the case, including a change of plea back to not guilty by the defendant, had been stressful for her.
In reply to Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, defending, Mr Justice Flood agreed courts lost control of eases after imposing sentence and that sex offenders were not given therapy until the latter portion of a sentence.
Mr Justice Flood said: "It's like the carcass of the turkey which is put in the bin where it decays. After some time, it gets thrown out on the tip heap and pollutes everything it come in contact with."
Mr MacEntee: ". . . and attracts vermin."
Mr Justice Flood said Cull inane was a product of the "turkey and the bin" as he had not received any therapy during his 1982 sentence.
He also agreed the sex therapy programme was limited to about 10 spaces.
Last February, Cullinane (32), of Barry Avenue, Mervue pleaded guilty to raping the victim between 11.30 p.m. and 2.30 a.m. on August 24th 25th, 1993.
Cullinane originally admitted the charge in July of last year but in October he was allowed to change his plea back to not guilty. On the day of his trial he again pleaded guilty.
Del Sgt Ian Dalton said Cullinane had been involved in delinquent behaviour since his early teens.
Shortly after the rape, he was jailed for larceny and later received a three year term for robbery. This delayed his rape case.
Arbour Hill prison chaplain Father Fergal McDonagh said Cullinane had been about 19 when he got to know him while he was serving the earlier six year on with and respectful but very juvenile. "Prison didn't do him any good for growing up," said Father McDonagh.
When he was remanded on the rape charge, Cullinane found it hard to accept he was back in Arbour Hill on a sex offence. He also denied the rape and was more difficult to talk to. Father McDonagh said Cullinane tried hard to be transferred out of Arbour Hill, despite its suitability for sex offenders, as he had been sexually assaulted by a fellow prisoner in a cell there when he was 19.
He said if Cull inane received a long sentence for the rape he would serve every day of it not living up to the offence. The only thing jail had done for him was make him harder and left him blaming other people, Father McDonagh told Mr MacEntee (with Ms Isobel Kennedy BL).
Cullinane also entered the witness box and apologised to the rape victim, her family and to gardai. "It was my fault. It was just the way I was at the time. I want to say sorry to everyone. I just want the opportunity to explain how I was at the time," Cullinane said.
Cullinane claimed he had been drinking heavily and suffering from a breakdown which left him "completely out of control" before the rape. This was as a result of two beatings he suffered as revenge for an earlier fight he had been involved in.
He said he had now put his past behind him, stopped using alcohol, and had got engaged. He hoped to make a new life for himself in the future with a Sligo woman, Ms Anne Gordon, and her two children. Ms Gordon said she and her children loved Cullinane and hoped to get a house in Lucan.
Mr Maurice Gaffney SC, prosecuting, (with Mr Desmond Zaidan BL) said the rape occurred when the victim had been visiting a friend in the Mervue area. That night her friend and a youth walked with her on her way to the bus.
Cullinane had boarded the bus later and told her she was wanted by her two friends whom he named. The victim left the bus with Cullinane and each time she asked for her friends, he assured her they were only a short distance away. He lured her back to his house, pushed her inside and raped her.
Cullinane told her he would kill her if she told gardai and added if he did not get her sooner, he would get her later, Mr Gaffney said. Then when she asked if she could go home he gave her money for a taxi.
She left and went to a fast food restaurant and staff there rang a taxi. The driver noticed she was upset and when she got home her father was also concerned. She told him she had been raped and gardai were called. Mr Gaffney said gardai traced Cullinane and after two hours they managed to get him to come out of the house.