A DUBLIN man who raped two women after breaking into their homes has been sentenced to 20 years in jail by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court.
David McCartan (21) of Casement Road, Finglas, pleaded guilty to two charges each of rape and burglary to commit rape and one charge of oral rape on May 3rd, 2007 and August 31st, 2008. He had previous convictions for minor public order offences.
Mr Justice Carney jailed him for 10 years for each rape to run consecutively. He also ordered 10 years’ post-release supervision.
The judge said there was a credible threat to kill in the first rape and he had “permanently disrupted and, in fact, ruined both women’s lives”.
“It is a highly aggravating factor in the first case that the accused disclosed that he had planned the violation for some time and had been awaiting his opportunity,” Mr Justice Carney said.
“It took place in what should have been the comfort and security of their own homes, particularly in the first case where she lived with her children.”
In sentencing he took into account McCartan’s early guilty plea, remorse and young age.
In the first offence, a 41-year-old mother of two had woken up to find McCartan standing in her bedroom. She had been attending her aunt’s funeral earlier that day and had gone to bed early because she was feeling ill.
McCartan put his hand over her mouth, pushed her back on the bed, told her to stay quiet and raped her. He told her afterwards “I’ve wanted to do you for a long time” before he threatened to kill her children if she reported him to the Garda. That woman told the court that she had tried to kill herself seven months after the rape.
The year after this rape, while on bail for this offence, McCartan climbed into a a third-storey flat where he raped a 21-year-old girl having beaten up her boyfriend and dragged her from their bedroom. He was armed with a fork he had taken from their kitchen. The victim said she saw the name “David” tattooed on the man’s arm but he had his face covered with a bandana. The 41-year-old woman read from her victim impact statement that she had taken an overdose in December 2007.
She said that on the night of the rape she had wanted to stay alive “not for me but for my children” but said there had been times when she wished she had died that night, “so I could get some peace”.
“The day my aunt died I was raped. It will always be connected with that. I never grieved for my aunt,” the woman said.
“My son is angry with himself that he was not able to protect me and my daughter locks her door and pushes things against it. I did not feel safe in my own home.”
She has since moved. “I don’t want to move back to Dublin to the likes of him and all the antisocial behaviour,” the woman said as she pointed at McCartan. “It is quiet where I live now.”