A 26-year-old Irishman has been jailed for eight years, with 18 months suspended, after he was convicted of raping a young woman while she slept in her bed.
Conor Quaid, from Dingle in County Kerry, was in the victim's home on the night of the incident because he was a trusted family friend.
Justice Mary Rose Gearty told the Central Criminal Court that Quaid abused this trust and noted that he had shown no remorse since the incident took place on June 10, 2018.
Quaid pleaded not guilty to the charge of rape, but a jury at the Central Criminal Court found him guilty by a majority verdict of 10 to 1 following a seven-day trial.
The court heard that Quaid stayed at the victim's home after a night out and went to her bedroom while she was "curled up" asleep. The woman had not gone on the night out and had gone to bed early, Justice Gearty said.
The woman told gardaí that she didn't know what was happening to her when she first woke up and said that she "froze".
However, she said that she soon turned her head and saw Quaid before saying "what the hell are you doing?"
The woman told Quaid to leave the room and then realized that her pajama bottoms and underwear had been removed while she slept.
Prosecutor Tom Rice SC told the court that the woman spent the following day trying to make sense of what happened before accusing Quaid of raping her via Facebook Messenger.
Rice told the court that Quaid's replies were "accepting of his guilt".
Rice also said that Quaid knew that the victim was home alone as her parents were away on vacation and said that he had not received permission to enter her home on the night in question.
Meanwhile, Michael Bowman SC, who was defending Quaid, told the court that his client had a medical history of alcohol dependency and said that he had worked hard to address this since the offense took place.
Bowman also said that Quaid's father is a retired garda and said that he comes from a respected family. He handed in several tesitmonials and claimed that they proved that his client was a hard-working and honest man who had committed an out-of-character offense.
However, Justice Gearty said that there was no evidence that Quaid's alcohol addiction was responsible for the incident on June 10, 2018, and said that there was evidence that he was attracted to the victim before the attack took place.
"He wanted to have sex with her and he did so at a time when he no longer cared whether she consented or not," Justice Gearty said.
The victim told the court that the attack left her feeling powerless in a victim impact statement read aloud by Detective Sergeant Ernie Henderson.
"You (Quaid) did whatever you liked. I had no choice on that night. You made me feel like I was worthless," she said in the victim impact statement.
The woman said that she was a happy and outgoing person before the attack but said that she now struggles with panic attacks, guilt, and shame on a regular basis.
Comments