Desmond Leitch sentenced to five years for rape of another woman

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Desmond Leitch, 37, of Castlefin, County Donegal, was sentenced to five years in prison for raping an 18-year-old woman in Convoy in January 2018. The Central Criminal Court jury found him guilty in October 2025. The judge backdated the sentence to October 2024, when Leitch entered custody in this matter.

The judge also ordered four years of Probation Service supervision after Leitch’s release, with compliance with instructions from the service. The court heard that a probation report assessed him as at high risk of sexual reoffending if living in the community, and that his cognitive ability had to be considered at sentencing.

The court heard that Leitch had previously been convicted of raping a different woman and stalking another woman. The injured party in the current case asked that Leitch be named in media reports but that her own name remain unpublished.