'Impossible to work out' actions of Westmeath rapist says psychologist

One of the country’s leading forensic psychologists has said the man responsible for raping two girls, aged six and nine, in Westmeath may not have been motivated by sexual desire but by an overwhelming urge to be violent.

There has been widespread public revulsion at his crimes, with even Mr Justice Paul Carney saying he found it too upsetting to recite the facts of the case.

Dr Patrick Randall said the 30-year-old, who was handed two life sentences on Monday, “may have used the girls as a way of directing his anger at society”.