A young woman raped by her landlord has spoken about how she felt violated all over again when her rapist and his legal team were allowed access to her counselling notes and her medical examination report was read out in court before a jury.
“The ability of your legal team to access and read my counselling notes has been a further violation for me to endure,” said the woman as she turned to face her abuser after he was convicted of raping her on May 28th, 2022, at accommodation that she and her fiance were renting from him.
The 62-year-old man had denied raping the young woman, who is in her late 20s, but following a weeklong trial a jury found him guilty by a 10-two majority after deliberating for more than 9½ hours at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork on February 11th.
On Thursday, the woman outlined the impact on her of the rape that the man perpetrated after plying her with drink while her fiance was away on his stag weekend, and she was alone at the house that they were renting from the man and where they shared some communal facilities with him.
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“Since the night I was raped, my entire world was turned upside down. My life as I knew it was over. For almost three years I have been fighting to get my life back together. What you did to me was an utter violation of my mind, my body and my soul.
“I was in a horrifically traumatised state the hours that followed the crime – I was numb and broken – I felt I had died inside. The experience of going to the sexual assault clinic was like being a corpse and I was there because you raped me.”
She said sexual assault treatment unit (Satu) staff treated her with kindness but having to relive that during the trial process, where she heard her own Satu report being read out and saw her underwear displayed in court, was deeply traumatising, as was hearing the rapist tell lies about the rape.
“Listening to you go on so much about yourself and how you were an honourable man etc was horrific when you were sitting there charged with raping me. All your nonsense about your good character made it really clear to me how little care or concern you had for what you did to me.
“It doesn’t matter what a great sportsman you think you are – how many medals you won or how you think you have helped children – none of this is relevant. No good deeds can undo the bad you did ... You are here because you raped me, nothing else.
“You have taken my right to live a normal life, my freedom. As a human and a woman, I should have the free will to be in any place, at any time, wearing whatever I wear – drunk or sober – without the risk of being raped. Your chosen actions are a direct violation of a person’s autonomy and free will.”
Thanking all those who had supported her, including her husband and friends as well as Det Garda Rachel McGrath of the Cork North Protective Services Unit, the woman urged other victims of rape and sexual violence to come forward and report the crime.
“I urge you to take back your power. Speak your truth and own it, you will be believed. Each time you speak out you are reducing the social silence that these monsters thrive in ... to those suffering in silence, I encourage you to find your inner strength and courage because you do have it.”
Earlier Det Garda McGrath had told how the woman had reluctantly accepted an invitation from the man to share a bottle of wine with him in his accommodation and when he ran out of wine, he kept topping up her glass with brandy until she finally passed out and woke up to find him raping her.
Defence counsel Tom Creed SC said his client had no previous convictions and had not come to Garda attention since.
Prosecution counsel Conor Devalley SC said the Supreme Court had set various parameters for types of rapes and this rape fell within the category carry seven to 10 years.
Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford thanked the woman for her victim impact statement and both counsels for their submissions but said she wanted time to consider the matter and adjourned sentencing until April 11th, remanding the accused in custody until that date.
