Violent offender who raped former partner during false imprisonment ordeal appeals conviction
A previous hearing was told that the defendant and complainant had been in an on/off relationship for a number of years and on the night in question the man became agitated after seeing a text message on the woman’s phone
A remorseless offender who raped his former partner during an imprisonment ordeal has appealed his conviction, arguing that allowing "goading" videos he took of the victim before the attack to go before the jury was "pouring petrol on well-lit flames" and denied him a fair trial.
The 48-year-old defendant, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, was found guilty of rape at his home in the midlands on August 7, 2018. The jury unanimously returned a guilty verdict following a trial at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Tullamore, Co Offaly in February.
He previously pleaded guilty to assaulting the woman causing her harm and was convicted by a jury of false imprisonment of the woman on the same occasion during a previous trial in 2022. The man has a number of previous convictions, including those for assault.
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He was handed a nine-year jail sentence for the rape and was sentenced to four and a half years with the final year suspended in assault and false imprisonment charges.
In the videos, which were viewed by the three-judge panel at the Court of Appeal on Friday, the woman states: "He’s hitting me, abusing me, everything…You’re hitting me," in response to the man asking her to, "tell everyone what’s wrong with you. Go on tell everyone". He can also be heard saying: "See that door there, bye bye"… "Show me the marks on your neck where I grabbed you by the neck? There’s none."
The woman then asks for her car keys.
A second video shows the woman lying on the ground crying.
At the appeal hearing today, John Byrne SC, for the man, argued the trial judge erred in allowing the prosecution to put two videos taken on the appellant’s phone before the jury in circumstances where the videos were not relevant to the issue under consideration.
He said the case opened on the basis that the prosecution were contending that the woman was asleep when the alleged rape took place at 9am on the morning in question and therefore could not have consented to the sexual intercourse taking place. He said the man’s contention was that this did not take place at all.
The recordings in question were timestamped as having been made at 3.53am and 4.12am, counsel said.
He pointed out the defence had never sought to limit the background evidence that was to be given to the jury in relation to the man previously pleading guilty to assault causing harm and being found guilty of false imprisonment prior to the allegation of rape at 9am.
Counsel said in the videos, the man can be seen "goading" the complainant and said this was certainly something which "doesn’t play well" for the man and "his activities on the night".
While the jury might take a view as to the overall conduct of the man at the time, the videos were taken hours before the alleged rape occurred at 9am when the situation appeared to have "calmed down" and those events were no longer taking place, Mr Byrne said.
Mr Byrne said the admissibility of the video-recordings was challenged by the defence during the trial, but the judge ultimately ruled that they could go before the jury.
Counsel submitted the admission of the recordings into evidence had the inevitable consequence that the man was denied a fair trial.
He said the videos contained lots of references to taking drugs and this had nothing to do with what the jury had to determine and was "highly prejudicial".
He said the videos were effectively "pouring petrol on well-lit flames".
Gerard Clarke SC, for the State, argued that the videos were admissible, largely because of the issue of credibility.
"She said she woke up to him raping her. He said it didn’t happen. It’s a black and white issue, it goes to credibility," said counsel.
The court said it would reserve judgement in the matter and reveal its decision after the summer break, which ends in October.
A previous hearing was told that the defendant and complainant had been in an on/off relationship for a number of years and on the night in question the man became agitated after seeing a text message on the woman’s phone in which she commiserated with a former boyfriend on the death of his mother.
The defendant assaulted the woman and detained her in the apartment against her wishes and she later awoke to find the man having sex with her.
The court heard the entire ordeal lasted around 10 hours.
The complainant's victim impact statement was read to the court by Mr Clarke. She said she had been "physically and emotionally assaulted" on the night, describing it as a "nightmare" that she "would not wish on anyone".
In passing sentence, Mr Justice David Keane noted the man continues to deny the offence and has not demonstrated any remorse nor made any attempts to make amends or undergo any rehabilitation.
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