Convicted killer jailed for raping his mother

A convicted killer who raped his 66-year-old mother has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The Central Criminal Court heard that the 45-year-old man has a previous conviction for the manslaughter of a woman in England.

Mr Justice Barry White described the case as one of the most horrendous rape cases, if not the most horrendous, he had encountered in his legal career.

Defence counsel Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC told the court that although his client accepted the guilty verdict, he maintained that at the time he believed his mother was consenting to sex.

Det Sgt Denis Smith told Gerard Clarke SC, prosecuting, that on the afternoon of Mar 2, 2008, the victim had attended a Mother’s Day social event before going home to bed.

At 11pm, her son showed up at the house and she got out of bed to let him in. He poured some drinks, put on a Joe Dolan CD, and began dancing. He asked his mother to dance and she did but then sat down again.

During the three-day trial, the victim gave evidence that she must have blacked out then because she does not know how she ended up on the floor with her son on top of her having sex with her.

She said: “When I realised what was happening I said ‘leave me alone’. I kept saying ‘leave me alone’.”

She said that afterwards she thought he was going to do it again. She said she wanted him to get out of the house and when he left she was unable to lift herself up off the floor because of her hip problems.

Det Sgt Smith said that when he was arrested in Mar 2008, the man admitted having had sex with his mother but said she was a willing participant.

After being charged and released on bail, the man went to England. A European arrest warrant was issued and he was brought back to Ireland by Det Sgt Smith in Jul 2010.

The court heard that the man was previously jailed for six years for the manslaughter of a woman in England.

The woman had threatened to expose his affair with a married woman who was 30 years older than him.

Mr Ó Lideadha said his client wished to convey his deep remorse for the trauma he had caused his mother and his family for the “wrongful act” of having had sex with her and for having contested the charge.

Mr Justice White said that the offence lay at the highest end of the scale. He commented: “Not only was she 66 but she was your mother.”

He also noted that the man had expressed remorse for having sex with his mother but not for raping her, on Mother’s Day 2008.

The judge said he could find few mitigating circumstances other than a difficult childhood, a reasonable work history, and difficulties with alcohol.

He suspended the last two-and-a-half years of the sentence and backdated the start of the term to Jul 2010, when the man was extradited from England. He also ordered the man be registered as a sex offender.