A Belfast man has been jailed for seven years at the Central Criminal Court for raping a Cork woman whose neighbour gained him entry to her home in the early hours of the morning.
Micheál John McCann (30), Glen Road, Belfast, was arrested in the victim's house shortly after raping her when she secretly called the gardaí on her mobile phone which she had concealed in the sleeve of her cardigan.
Mr Justice O'Neill said it was a "despicable crime in despicable circumstances". He said it was hard to believe anyone would have maintained the intercourse was consensual in the face of the woman's cries and entreaties and noted from the victim impact report that she might be permanently affected by the assault.
The court had heard the woman had gone to bed early that night. She was awoken around 4 a.m by someone knocking at the door and shouting her name and saw her neighbour outside with another man whom she did not know.
Her neighbour asked her to let him in for a glass of water and when she demurred he threatened he would damage her car or house if she tried to phone his aunt. She opened the door because she did not want her children woken up. She asked them to leave as she had to work in the morning but her neighbour said they were not going anywhere.
His whole demeanour changed when he said this and he became agitated. She began to panic when he knelt in front of her and rubbed his hands over her.
Her neighbour told her to stop shaking as she was making him paranoid and said he had brought a "grand young fellow" for her as, he said, he knew she had not had sex in a long time and would not meet anyone because she did not go out.
Her neighbour then said "I'll leave you to it" and left the room. She did not scream or call out because she knew the first people that would reach her would be her children and she did not want them to see what was happening. She also did not try to leave the house as she did not want to leave them alone.
She then heard a noise upstairs and told McCann her children were awake and if they came downstairs they would be out in the street screaming. He told her she could go upstairs and settle them if she promised to come back down again to him.She picked up her mobile phone and hid it in the sleeve of her cardigan.
She then went upstairs and phoned the gardaí.