Courts / Dublin / Report

Serial rapist should have been allowed cross-examine victim on 'sexual history', lawyers submit

Date
2022-07-11

Stage
Appeal

Primary locality
Dublin

County
Dublin

Summary

In a Court of Appeal hearing, Patrick Gageby SC argued that Judge Tara Burns erred by refusing the defendant, Gheorghe Goidan, the right to cross‑examine one victim on her sexual history and by failing to discharge the jury after prejudicial material was presented. Goidan, 49, had been convicted in 2019 of two rapes and robberies of Czech sex workers, receiving 20 years' imprisonment (10 years for each rape, 7 years for robbery, concurrent). He appealed both conviction and sentence, claiming the judge's headline 17‑year sexual‑offence term was disproportionate and that his lack of prior convictions should have been weighted more heavily. The Director of Public Prosecutions upheld the conviction and sentence, citing the premeditated, ultra‑violent nature of the attacks and the victims' vulnerability. The appeal judgment remains reserved. Gheorghe Goidan pleaded not guilty.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Serial rapist should have been allowed cross-examine victim on 'sexual history', lawyers submit. Charges or matters: rape; sexual assault; oral rape; anal rape; robbery. Procedural stage: appeal

When:

September 7, 2017 Incident
May 14, 2019 Incident
July 2019 Hearing Or Sentence
2022-07-11 Publication

Why: The judge said Goidan, a Romanian national who had one previous conviction from Britain in relation to possession of a false passport, had preyed upon the vulnerability of the two women and had clearly targeted them because he thought they would not be believed. CNI source report