A SERIAL sex offender who raped a woman in the women’s toilet of a fast-food shop has been jailed for life by Mr Justice Paul Carney.
David Power (27), Brittas, Thurles, Co Tipperary, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping the woman in Supermac’s in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, on January 28th, 2007.
Power was previously jailed by Mr Justice Carney for terms of five years on October 5th, 2001, and for three years on October 29th, 2002, for aggravated sexual assaults on women in Cork city in June and September 2000.
He was a private in the Army, attached to Collins Barracks in Cork, at the time of his earlier crimes, but had left the Defence Forces when the sentences were passed.
Jailing him yesterday, Mr Justice Carney said he was imposing a life sentence, but there was nothing to stop Power from applying for parole after eight years.
He said he could not take into account Power’s troubled upbringing or his addiction to alcohol and drugs. He noted the defendant had consumed 15 pints, six shots and a “cocktail of ecstasy and speed” on the night of the attack.
Mr Justice Carney called the attack “planned, predatory and opportunistic” and said Power had a “proven and admitted propensity for rape”. The judge also told lawyers in the case that since hearing the evidence, he had received a letter from the victim by registered post.
He said although it was marked “strictly private and confidential”, it was his rule to circulate such correspondence to all parties. However the letter was not read out in open court.
Defence counsel Isobel Kennedy SC said she would be concerned if the letter had had any influence on the court’s sentencing. Mr Justice Carney replied that the sentence was committed to writing long before he had read the letter.
Ms Kennedy also complained about an article which appeared in the Daily Star newspaper last week following the hearing of evidence. She said the article was highly inflammatory and had caused difficulties to Power’s family.
Power stood with his head bowed as the life sentence was handed down. After a minute, he leaned forward, supporting himself on the bench in front before eventually having to sit down as the prison officers handcuffed him. He was then led away past his family and his victim’s family, both groups in tears.
At an earlier hearing, the victim told Mr Justice Carney that the rape had affected her as “a woman, girlfriend, daughter, sister, friend, work colleague and human being”, but her family and community had rallied around to support her.
She said she had been a very social person in the past but found her “sense of safety in the world severely threatened and compromised” after the attack and she kept the Garda Síochána’s number on speed dial while socialising.
On that occasion Power had read from a letter in which he told the victim: “From the bottom of my heart I am so sorry for what I did to you.” He told Mr Justice Carney that he had tried to get access to treatment in custody.
His mother Elizabeth Power told the judge that her son had been sexually abused as a child and as an adult and she was anxious that he receive therapy.
“I am asking you as a mother to help my son. I am pleading with you.”
Mr Justice Carney replied that, in his view, he had already tried to help her son twice in imposing sentences for his previous sexual offending which might now be considered moderate.
Garda Joan Larkin told prosecuting counsel John Aylmer SC that the victim was on her way home from a nightclub with her boyfriend when she needed to use a toilet. They stopped at a Supermac’s outlet and she went upstairs to the women’s toilet while he waited outside.
The woman said as she opened the door of a cubicle she was pushed inside by a man who grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around. She struggled but could not get free and shouted to people coming in and out, but she could not be heard above the loud music in the toilets.
Power put his two hands around her neck and before he pulled down her clothes and raped her.
Garda Larkin said the victim’s boyfriend had become concerned at the length of time she was gone and had asked a girl to go into the toilets to call out her name. The victim shouted out “yes” when she heard her name and Power stopped and immediately left the toilets.CCTV in the restaurant showed Power going in and out of the women’s toilets in the early hours of the morning.