Labourer gets 10 years for rapes and sex attacks

A construction worker living in Sligo has been jailed for 10 years for raping two women and sexually attacking another two.

A construction worker living in Sligo has been jailed for 10 years for raping two women and sexually attacking another two.

Jacek Sliwinski (28), a father of one from Poland, with an address at Ferndale, Sligo, pleaded guilty to rape and attacking three women last year on July 8th and raping a fourth woman on October 1st.

Garda Michelle Satchwell said Sliwinski told his wife he had been living a double life for 20 years. He also told his wife he had been interested in pornography since he was a young boy, and that as he got older, he began visiting prostitutes while in Poland.

He said he knew the attacks were wrong but that alcohol made him feel braver and it was a "compulsion". Garda Satchwell said the couple arrived in Sligo in April 2006 and he began working as a labourer. His wife was pregnant at the time of the attacks and gave birth to their child last January.

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A probation report referred to by Brendan Grehan SC, defending, showed Sliwinski felt shameful about his actions, but that this feeling of guilt "was only partly orientated on the victims because of his own egocentricity". The report also said Sliwinski's risk of reoffending could be "managed or reduced".

Mr Justice Paul Carney sentenced Sliwinski to 10 years in prison for each of the offences, all of them to run concurrently, and directed that he be certified as a sex offender.

Mr Justice Carney said the serial and predatory nature of the offences, and their effects on the victims, would warrant a 14-year sentence. However, he took into account mitigating factors, including Sliwinski's lack of previous convictions, history of employment, his wife who has stood by him, his co-operation, his guilty plea, show of genuine remorse and that he's making good use of his time in prison.

Mr Justice Carney backdated his sentence to October 9th, 2006, and imposed a further 10-year post-release supervision order.

The first group of attacks happened in the early hours of July 8th, when Sliwinski followed and attacked three women as they were making their way home from nights out.

Garda Satchwell told Pauline Walley, prosecuting, that the first victim had just closed the door to her apartment when she heard a knock on the door. When she answered it, she initially couldn't see anyone, but Sliwinski barged in, assaulting her and saying he wanted to have sex.

However, she managed to push Sliwinski, who is small and of slight build, out of her apartment.

Ten minutes later, the second victim had just separated from friends and was walking the two-minute journey to her home, when she felt someone grab her from behind.

As he attacked her, she fell. She bit him and her screams attracted the attention of two men in a nearby apartment who came to help her. Sliwinski ran away.

A short time later, at 3.35am, a third victim had also just taken out her keys and opened the door when Sliwinski pushed the door open from behind and barged in. The woman, who was under five feet tall, was unable to push him off her. She shouted at him to get out but he raped her. She was unable to scream because he put his hand over her mouth. She told gardaí she was "terrified" he was going to kill her.

After he left, she stayed lying on the ground crying before calling 999.

Because it was dark and Sliwinski spoke very little to the women, Garda Satchwell said the description these women were able to give was "very limited." All of them thought he was Irish.

However, a fourth attack three months later gave gardaí the description they needed. On this occasion, the victim, who had been out in a nightclub, was walking some distance behind her flatmate and boyfriend, with whom she had been arguing.

At about 3am, as she looked for her keys in the car park to her apartment, she felt a "scuffle" behind her. Sliwinski pulled her by the head to the ground. She screamed for help but no one heard her and Sliwinski banged her head repeatedly against a wall.

In an attempt to stop the attack, she told him "take my bag, don't hurt me". Sliwinski's limited reply led her to believe that he was foreign. He then raped her.

After she contacted gardaí, she was taken to the Rotunda hospital in Dublin and material found on her was later linked to Sliwinski.

When they studied CCTV footage, gardaí noticed similarities between images of the suspect and footage of the suspect in July. This, together with the fourth victim's more robust description, and another garda's chance meeting with Sliwinski a few months previously, enabled them to arrest him on October 5th.

Sliwinski initially denied any involvement but co-operated by volunteering fingerprints and swabs.