Rapist ‘befriended’ victim before savage assault

A 25-year-old man who “befriended” a woman separated from her friends during a hen party before repeatedly raping her has been given a 15-year sentence.

The woman managed to escape from a bathroom after an ordeal of several hours, and ran completely naked to a house for help.

Louis Sheils, of Clifton Crescent, Newcastle, Galway, fled the flat before gardaí arrived but was arrested two days later in Killarney with sterling and a bus ticket to Belfast in his possession.