A 59-year-old Kerry man who raped a woman after luring her back to a caravan from a pub in Dublin has been jailed for 15 years.
Richard O’Brien of Arlington Lodge, Church Street in Tralee has already served a sentence for rape and false imprisonment. Last month, he was asked to leave the court room for shouting abuse at his victim during his sentence hearing.
The man’s victim was 49 when he approached her on a night out in Dublin in March 2011. She was celebrating a friend’s birthday. The court heard he bought her a drink and invited her to a party. En route, she became uneasy and asked him to call her a taxi when they arrived. He said he would and led her to a caravan at the back of a house where he pretended the party was being held.
Once inside, he pushed her onto a bed, punched her several times, bit her on the chest and neck and raped her.
Her ordeal only came to an end when two men entered the caravan and stopped him. She fled the scene and flagged down the first car she came across.
The court heard the woman now suffers from panic attacks and has suicidal thoughts. Her relationship of 23 years has since broken down and she avoids sleep because of recurring nightmares. Mr. O’Brien had to be escorted out of his sentence hearing last month for screaming abuse at his victim. This morning, his barrister said he wanted to apologise to her for his outburst.
Mr. Justice Tony Hunt described him an “exceptionally angry and aggressive person” who caused great harm to his victim. He noted the fact he’d targeted “a vulnerable person” and said everything he did afterwards was “intentional and planned”.
The court heard Mr. O’Brien was previously jailed for five years for rape and false imprisonment.
Mr. Justice Tony Hunt said he considered handing down a life sentence for this attack, such is the threat he feels he represents to the public. He noted his lack of remorse and failure to accept the jury’s decision.
In the end, he handed down a 15-year sentence. He said he realised such a significant sentence meant he would spend a large part of his remaining lifespan in prison, but that’s his fault, he said.
He also ordered that he be supervised for three years following his release.
