Rapist fails to gain release from prison

A rapist has failed again at the Central Criminal Court to gain release from a 10 1/2-year sentence.

A rapist has failed again at the Central Criminal Court to gain release from a 10 1/2-year sentence.

Mr Justice O Caoimh said he would need to be fully reassured about the risk factor before he could release Paul Cullinane, who was jailed in 1997, and wanted a report setting down a detailed programme for the future.

He set next June 14th for a further hearing of the sentence review and emphasised he needed "something much clearer" than had been submitted to him in court. Cullinane (35), of Barry Avenue, Galway, was jailed on April 14th, 1997, for raping a teenage girl on August 24th, 1993.

He had lured her off a bus and tricked her into believing a friend had sent him to meet her. He then took her to his home and raped her.

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He was jailed for six years in 1982 for raping another woman.

Cullinane, who said he had spent half his life in prison, added that he was prepared to abide by the most stringent conditions the court required and would continue to work with a clinical psychologist. He was finished with drink and drugs.