A Clare man has been sentenced to 8 years in prison for the sexual assault a woman in her home
The 26-year-old – who cannot be named – had pleaded guilty to the incident which took place in her County Clare home on October 14th 2011, while her young son slept in the next room.
During last month’s sitting of the Central Criminal Court at the courthouse in Ennis, Judge Paul Carney was told there was some previous intimacy between the victim and the accused including a sexual encounter on the night in question, but the complainant told Gardaí that further sexual contact took place without her consent when the accused forced himself on her.
At the sentence hearing in Dublin, Gardaí said the relationship was based around drink and the Clare man has 17 previous convictions, mostly relating to alcohol.
A letter of apology from the man to his victim was read out in court, while a victim impact statement outlined how the woman turned to alcohol and drugs following the assault and her son was taken into care.
Mr Justice Paul Carney said he did not accept drunkenness as a mitigating factor and sentenced the Clare man to eight years in prison, with the final two years suspended.
