2026-04-30
Self-proclaimed 'drugs lord' raped teenage girl over false €12k debt
Stage: Sentence
Plea: Guilty
Outcome: Photo: Collins) A self-proclaimed "drugs lord" who coerced a teenage girl into having sex with him by falsely claiming she owed him a debt of €12,000 has been jailed for nine years for rape. "Calculating predator" Craig O'Connell (26) – who has 62 previous convictions and was on bail at the time – convinced the then 16-year-old girl that he was a member of a criminal gang and accused her of informing on him after claiming he'd been caught with €12,000 in drugs. At a sentence hearing today, Mr Justice David Keane imposed a sentence of 11 years for the rape offence and a consecutive six-year term on the offence of making a demand with menace.