A MAN from north Kerry has been sentenced at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee to seven years for the sexual assault of a woman in Listowel last year.
Gardaí on patrol found the woman, then 22, semi-conscious alongside a skip in a car park early on June 15th, 2008, with a man “crouching over her”.
She was naked from the waist down, her jeans and underwear removed. She had extensive bruises and scratching throughout her body, the trial of bouncer Danny Foley (35), Meen, Listowel, heard earlier this month. There was no clinical evidence of sexual assault.
There were extraordinary scenes yesterday when 50 people, mostly middle-aged and elderly men, queued to shake the hands of the convicted man and hug him tearfully after he was brought from the cell and before the judge entered the courtroom.
As sentence was passed, Foley’s mother had to be removed by gardaí after becoming hysterical.
Foley, who had been celebrating his 34th birthday on that night, had denied the charge. He had told gardaí he had “found your wan” after he had gone to relieve himself near the skip at 3.50am.
However CCTV footage showed him carrying her to the skip area. It also emerged he had met her earlier in the night club and she had become ill and quickly incapacitated after he bought her a Black Russian to drink. He had insisted on walking her home, against her wishes. Her recollection was hazy and she had blacked out but she remembered trying to prevent him from removing her clothing.
Two weeks ago a jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict.
Judge Donagh McDonagh yesterday described the woman’s victim impact statement as one of “remarkable dignity”. He said Foley’s “revolting ” assertions, the “odious” language he used to describe his victim and his allegations about mutual sexual acts on the night, were designed “to add insult to injury” and to “demean and denigrate her further in the eyes of the jury and the public.”
The judge also strongly criticised a character statement made by Castlegregory parish priest Fr Seán Sheehy, a native of Meen, who said Foley was always “respectful of women”.
Speaking before sentencing was handed down, the priest said he had known Foley since he was a teenager.“He always struck me as having the height of respect for women. There is not an abusive bone in his body.”
Judge McDonagh said Foley’s actions “gave the lie” to Fr Sheehy’s statement.
In her victim impact statement, the woman spoke of being “judged” in north Kerry but she was not sorry for telling the truth. Everyone in Listowel knew who she was, despite the press respecting her anonymity.
“Even though my name has never been mentioned in the press, Listowel is not a big town and everyone knows it’s me. I feel as if people are judging me the whole time. I’ve been asked by people I know if I am sorry for bringing Dan Foley to court. I am not sorry for it. All I did was tell the truth,” the woman said.
She did not hate Foley, but she hated what he had done to her and what she had to go through. The incident had destroyed her confidence and she had to go on pain killers for her physical injuries afterwards and on anti-depressants. She had become suicidal but was now attending counselling. She thanked the Kerry Rape Crisis Centre for its help.
During his trial, Foley told the jury in graphic and sometimes coarse detail of what he claimed were consensual sexual acts. He claimed the woman, who was 22 at the time, asked him to have sex with her and that she wanted to get drunk quickly.
CCTV footage was shown to the jury in which the woman was unable to walk a straight line and was clinging on to Foley at the back of a nightclub.
Later the clips showed Foley carrying her across the car park to the skip.
“I came around here for a slash and I saw your wan lying on the ground. No one arrived. I tried to get her standing,” he at first told Garda John White who along with Garda Mary McGinty came upon them at 3.50 am on June 15th, 2008.
He later retracted this story after he became aware of the CCTV footage.
The trial heard how she had been consuming alcohol on the night. “But she was not in difficulty until she encountered the accused,” prosecutor Tom Rice said. Judge McDonagh said Foley had told lie after lie. “It was quite clear the jury did not accept the assertions you made,” the judge said. Barrister Patrick Wymes said Foley had no previous convictions, was engaged and was looking after ill parents.
What had happened was the less grave end of sexual assault. Judge McDonagh said it was at the middle to upper end. He noted little or no remorse had been shown and no apology given to the victim, “surprisingly in the plea for mitigation”.
He sentenced Foley to seven years, suspending the final two, and ordered him to be placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.