A man raped his girlfriend before raping her mother days later after breaking into her house and holding a knife to her throat, a court has heard.
The mother, who was 60 at the time, was saved when her daughter heard the rape taking place in the background of a voicemail the attacker accidentially left her.
The Waterford man (47), who cannot be named to protect the women’s identity, has previously served a sentence for raping his daughter.
At the time of the attacks on his girlfriend and her mother he was on bail for kidnapping and seriously assaulting the same girlfriend the previous year. Last December he was jailed for three and a half years for the kidnapping. He faces the possibility of life imprisonment for the latest attacks.
His defence counsel asked Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy to impose a determinate sentence so the man “can work towards a target date.” The judge adjourned finalisation until May 3rd.
The father of four pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to rape of the two women in various ways between July 2nd and July 5th, 2015, at locations in Dublin. He also pleaded guilty to false imprisonment, attempted rape, aggravated burglary, making threats to kill and aggravated sexual assault.
Ordeal
Det Insp Paul Cleary told Kerida Naidoo SC, prosecuting, that the ordeal started after the accused became angry when his girlfriend's mother refused to let him into their house. He went with his girlfriend to another location where they had sex during which the man became extremely violent.
Afterwards she felt she could not go home and went with the accused to his house.
The next day he woke her up and brought her into the bathroom where he told her: “I’ll slice you up, I’ll kill you, I’ll teach you to disrespect me.” He then raped the woman again. She later fled to a friend’s house.
Two days later the woman had a missed call and voicemail from the accused. In the background of message she could hear her mother saying “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry” and the accused speaking.
The man had earlier that evening forced his way into the house after the mother opened the door to him. He punched her and held a Stanley knife to her throat as he called her a “whore” and a “slut.”
Belts
He dragged the woman up the stairs by her hair before tying her up with the belts from two dressing gowns. Det Insp Cleary said that for the next two hours and 40 minutes she was subjected to vicious physical and sexual assaults.
The accused spoke in a relatively calm voice as he called the woman names, punched her and held the blade to her throat. He also “sunk his teeth into her nose.”
The woman passed out several times. She believed she was going to die and prayed that her daughter would not return home. During this time the man was repeatedly ringing her daughter with no answer.
Gardaí had been alerted by the woman’s daughter after she heard the voicemail. As officers banged on the door the accused told the woman he would kill her. Gardaí broke in and chased the man into the back garden where they used pepper spray after he refused to drop the knife.
Det Insp Cleary said the woman was left “unbelievably traumatised” afterwards.
Dominic McGinn SC, defending, said his client had instructed him not to minimise the seriousness of the offences. He said his client had some insight into his offending and was on the waiting list for psychological treatment in prison.