A man has been jailed for 15 years for ambushing a woman in the public toilets of a Cork town and subjecting her to 40 minutes of rape and sexual violence.
Przemyslaw Jakubowski (36) grabbed the woman from behind as she was drying her hands after running errands in Kanturk. He pulled her into a cubicle and threatened to kill her. He was wearing women’s underwear at the time which was later found in his apartment by gardai.
Jakubowski, who has a conviction for attempted rape in his native Poland, was found guilty by a jury following a 12-day trial last May.
Jakubowski of Egmont Court, Earls Street, Kanturk had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to twelve counts including rape, oral rape, anal rape, threats to kill, assault causing harm, sexual assault and false imprisonment during the attack on the woman on the afternoon of March 9th, 2010.
He was convicted on eleven counts and found not guilty by direction of the judge of one count of oral rape.
The court heard today he does not accept the jury’s verdict.
Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said that Jakubowski “gratified himself in an abnormal manner” during the assault by wearing women’s clothes. He said this was aggravating factor.
He said there were no mitigating factors in Jakubowski’s favour aside from him finding prison more difficult in Ireland because he is a foreign national.
The judge said the offence was one of the most serious to come before the courts in recent time and it was “deeply worrying” that Jakubowski has a conviction for attempted rape
He noted the victim has been “rendered into a changed state” and has suffered deep stress and scarring.
“One can only hope that the victimisation she suffered resulting from this trial is coming to an end,” Mr Justice McCarthy added.
He jailed Jakubowski for 15 years and ordered that he be registered as a sex offender.
The 31-year-old victim handed in a victim impact statement to the court in which she described how her life has been “turned upsidedown” by the attack.
“I was raped not once, not twice- but so many times and in so many ways,” she wrote. “These images haunt my nights, my days, my fears and my realities.
“I was in fear of losing my life that day. I always had myself down to be a tough strong person, but I was no match for him that day.”
She said she lost her independence and her sense of security after the attack and still suffers flashbacks and sleepless nights.