Man jailed for rape in Dublin park

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

A man was sentenced to eight years in prison, with the final six months suspended, for raping his wife’s friend in a Dublin park. The sentence leaves seven and a half years to be served in custody.

He pleaded not guilty to rape. The proceedings were reported on 8 February 2024.

He was convicted after a four-day trial at the Central Criminal Court in February 2024. The rape took place at Hartstown Park, Hartstown, Dublin 15, on 6 September 2019, after he walked the woman home from a party at his house.

On 15 March 2024, Mr Justice Tony Hunt set a nine-year headline sentence before reducing it to eight years and suspending the final six months. He ordered the man to be of good behaviour for three years after release and to have no contact with the woman or her family.

The court heard that gardaí traced anonymous messages received by the woman before the rape, some of them sexual and explicit, to a phone owned by the man. He initially denied sexual interaction, then told gardaí that the woman had initiated oral sex and that sexual contact could have occurred accidentally when he fell on her. At trial, he admitted telling gardaí some lies and said there had been a consensual sexual interaction.

Dominic McGinn SC, defending, cited his client’s lack of previous convictions and co-operation with gardaí. Mr Justice Hunt said he was not inclined to accept that there had been a high degree of co-operation, noting the man’s initial denials and later account.