A 42-YEAR-OLD man who last week admitted trying to abduct a teenage girl to sexually assault her has pleaded guilty to attempting to falsely imprison a woman in her 20s.
At Portlaoise Circuit Court, Dermot Murphy, Atlantic Coast Apartments, Tramore, Co Waterford, pleaded guilty to attempted false imprisonment and threatening to kill a young woman in Laois in October 2007.
It had been alleged that Murphy tried to drag the young woman into a van as she walked on a rural road near Durrow in Co Laois.
Evidence in this new case will be heard tomorrow and final sentencing will take place in July, when Murphy will be sentenced for similar offences, details of which were heard last week.
On Friday at Mullingar Circuit Court, Judge Tony Hunt promised a “significant” custodial sentence for Murphy after hearing evidence of offences committed last year of attempted false imprisonment, assault causing harm and attempted child trafficking.
The charges relate to an incident involving a teenage girl in the midlands last July who Murphy attempted to drag from her bicycle and force into a van with the intention of sexually assaulting her.
The 13-year-old fought Murphy, kicking him and biting him and losing her top before managing to escape to a nearby house.
In her victim impact statement, the court heard she was now untrusting of men and feared Murphy could come back to the area where she lived.
Last week the court heard Murphy told gardaí he didn’t know what came over him when he attempted to abduct the teenager, and that perhaps he needed help.
In 1998 Murphy was jailed for almost seven years for raping and falsely imprisoning a girl in 1997, and attended a sex offenders’ course in prison.
Murphy was yesterday remanded in custody to appear before Portlaoise Circuit Court tomorrow for evidence to be given in the sentencing hearing for the Laois offences.
Final sentencing in both cases is scheduled to take place in July, when psychiatric reports are available.