A woman who was raped by her former partner said she did not receive any counselling because she thought the notes from the sessions would be used against her.
Reading a victim impact to the Central Criminal Court, Susan Lynch said she regretted not receiving any counselling following rapes perpetrated on her by Paul Arthur, causing her to leave her home with her two children.
Arthur (59) of Conwal, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, was found guilty by a jury of two counts of anal rape and one count of vaginal rape of Ms Lynch on dates between September 2017 and July 2018 following a trial in Castlebar. He was jailed on Friday for 10 years.
Ms Lynch waived her legal right to anonymity to allow her former partner of 14 years to be named.
Sentencing him, Mr Justice Patrick McGrath paid tribute to Ms Lynch’s “powerful” victim impact statement, which he said described “the very serious effect this has had on her”.
He noted it was a serious breach of trust - and a repeated breach of trust - by a man against his long-term partner. He noted it was pre-meditated.
In mitigation, the judge said Arthur has no previous convictions and suffers from a number of health issues. However, he said he did not believe prison would be “unduly oppressive” for him.
Arthur has been in custody since the guilty verdicts were handed down last November. The sentence was backdated to when he went into custody.
In her victim impact statement, Ms Lynch said she declined any counselling because the notes could be used against her during the trial.
“Any counselling notes I did would be used against me …so I received no counselling while the court was awaiting trial…I now regret that,” she said.
Ms Lynch said that she gave a statement to gardaí in October 2019 and had been waiting for trial ever since.
“The trial was just a series of humiliations for me… I felt so stupid,” she said. “It brought me back to the one moment I was supposed to forget.”
“I had to go into intimate detail in a room full of strangers of what happened to me…it was humiliating,” she added.
Ms Lynch told the court she had three surgeries and was taken to A&E for panic attacks. She said she now suffers from alopecia. She said she could not sleep because the rapes happened in her bed.
Ms Lynch described how it was like a bereavement because she lost her identity and her home and had to start over again.
“I lock my bedroom door every night and I check it and I doublecheck it. I lock my car door. I am in fight or flight mode.”
“I don’t listen to the same music anymore. I don’t dance anymore, I used to love dancing, I don’t do anything that reminds me of him.”
Ms Lynch said she had lent Arthur’s business €65,000 and only €20,000 of that was returned.
“Financially, I had no home, no comforts...I slept on a sofa bed and I’d to start all over again.” Ms Lynch said she no longer works and has not been able to since 2018.
“You were a monster and you are a monster in my dreams,” she said.
Detective Garda Rosarie Monagle said the first rape occurred when Ms Lynch was in bed sleeping in September 2017 and she moved out of this bedroom after that.
She told Tim O’Leary SC, prosecuting, that on July 21st, 2018, Ms Lynch was awoken by Arthur anally raping her. He then turned her over and proceeded to vaginally rape her. She left the family home in Donegal two days later.
The court heard Ms Lynch and Arthur had two children together and Arthur had three others from a previous relationship.
John Berry SC, defending, told the court that there would be no appeal against the conviction in this case. “Hopefully that will give her some comfort,” he said.
Mr Berry said his client had no previous convictions. Arthur had a number of supporters in court for the sentence hearing. “When he is released, he will be returned to a community who will welcome him,” said Mr Berry.
A new law mooted by Justice Minister Helen McEntee last year has yet to be passed in relation to rape survivors’ counselling notes no longer being admissible as evidence.
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