A man jailed for life for raping his former girlfriend after breaking into her partner’s home in the early morning has had his life sentence replaced by a fixed term of 18 years.
When imposing five concurrent life terms on Polish national Edward Piotrowski (45), Clonmullen Hall, Edenderry, Co Offaly, in 2009 at the Central Criminal Court, Mr Justice Peter Charleton described his offences as the “most grievous sexual assault I have ever come across in my career”.
Piotrowski told the woman during the ordeal between 2.40am and 3.55am on November 25th 2007 he was going to kill her, her partner and the latter’s daughter.
Mr Justice Charleton imposed three life terms on counts of raping the woman, a fourth for falsely imprisoning her and a fifth for aggravated sexual assault. He imposed sentences totalling 15 years for the false imprisonment and assault of the woman’s partner and 10 years for aggravated burglary.
At his trial, Piotrowski admitted one offence of assault causing harm but denied the others. His appeal against conviction was rejected by the Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) after which it heard his appeal against sentence.
Giving the three-judge court’s decision yesterday, Mr Justice Frank Clarke said, on the facts of this case, it was more appropriate to impose a lengthy custodial sentence rather than an indeterminate life sentence.
This was especially because Piotrowski can apply to complete his sentence in Poland and a fixed-term sentence would help ensure no unnecessary or unfair burdens were placed in the way of that, the judge said.
The CCA did not consider the altered sentence to be significantly less onerous than than imposed by the trial judge, he said.
The court substituted three 18-year terms for the life terms imposed on the three counts of rape and sentences of 10 years, rather than life, for the counts of false imprisonment and sexual assault.
The court said it considered the false imprisonment of the woman comparable with that of her partner, for which the trial judge had imposed a 10-years. It also considered a 10-year term appropriate for the offence, in isolation, of aggravated sexual assault.
All sentences will run concurrently, backdated to November 2007 when Piotrowski was imprisoned.
The CCA also granted an application on behalf of the DPP requiring Piotrowski, on release, not to go within 20km of where he attacked and stopping him from contacting the woman, her partner and the latter’s daughter. He will also be placed on the list of registered sex offenders.
Earlier, Mr Justice Clarke said the woman and her partner were asleep in the early hours of November 25th 2007 when she was hit on the head and her partner was sprayed in his eyes with something before being hit.
When she switched on the light, she saw her partner being hit by a masked man who she recognised as Piotrowski. He put a knife to her partner’s throat and threatened to kill him before tying him up with rope and duct tape and slashing his body.
Later, after checking her partner was securely tied, Piotrowski touched the woman’s breasts, digitally penetrated her vagina and raped her with a vibrator before ordering her into another bedroom where he orally and vaginally raped her.
He made serious threats to the woman and her partner, including to kill them, before leaving after which the woman untied her partner and gardaí were contacted.
Mr Justice Clarke said there could be “little doubt” these offences were at the upper end of the relevant scale and it was open to the trial judge to impose life sentences for the relevant offences.
While Piotrowski’s general good record before the offences and positive co-operation with the prison and probation services needed to be taken into account, they must be seen against his refusal to accept responsibility for his actions.
Given the overall “appalling” nature of the “carefully planned” crimes, the overall impact of the mitigation factors must necessarily be considered limited, he said. This terrible ordeal had a profound psychological impact on the victims.
