A convicted rapist who attacked another woman just months after being released from nine years in prison has been jailed for 14 years by Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins at the Central Criminal Court.
Patrick O'Driscoll (35) of Coombe, Glenville, Fermoy, Co Cork, had been convicted of the second rape last July but sentencing had been adjourned until yesterday.
Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins said the it was a savage, barbaric and brutal attack on a totally innocent woman who might be left with emotional and psychological scars for the rest of her life.
He told O'Driscoll that while he could not penalise him for exercising his right to contest his case, he was not entitled to the concessions that he might have received had he pleaded guilty.
Mr Justice O'Higgins praised the courage of O'Driscoll's victim who had to give evidence in two trials and also praised the young man who had come to her assistance, noting that he had acted as "a brave and concerned citizen".
It was a re-trial after the first trial ended with the jury disagreeing on the verdict in January this year.
His victim, a 27-year-old mother, told Mr Justice O'Higgins that O'Driscoll had taken her life away from her and pleaded with him not to "let him take away anyone else's".
Sgt Michael Lewis told the court that gardaí believed O'Driscoll might have been lying in wait for another woman when he saw the victim in this case and attacked her on her way home from a night out with friends.
O'Driscoll had served nine years of the 12-year sentence he received for that offence and was released in March 2000. He committed the second rape in September of the same year.