‘I can no longer live on my own’

A woman with intellectual disabilities has told a court that she is no longer able to live on her own after a violent sexual assault in her home.

Her attacker, a Kerry native with no previous convictions, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court last November to aggravated sexual assault of the then 58-year-old woman at a location in Kerry on July 29, 2011.

The attack left her with bruising and abrasions to her shoulder, chest, knees, ankle, her back right arm, and buttock, and with carpet burns on her back.

The 29-year-old fisherman cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim. After ordering psychological assessments, Mr Justice Tony Hunt remanded him in continuing custody for sentencing in July.

Superintendent Fearghal Pattwell told Colm O’Briain, prosecuting, that the woman was diagnosed as having mild intellectual disabilities. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager and is on medication.

She was living in the family home until a few years before the attack when she applied for council housing so she could live independently. She began attending a community centre and enjoyed socialising in the local pub even though she did not drink, the court heard.

A victim impact report, taken by the Kerry Rape and Sexual Abuse centre, detailed that since the attack the victim feels unable to live on her own. She has lost her position in the community centre and her independence, the court heard.

The attack had a devastating attack on her and her family and she feels frightened. She had difficulty swallowing after the attack as he held her throat during it.

The court heard the victim cried during most of the time she was in the centre for the victim report and feels guilty about answering the door on the night.

Supt Pattwell said the man had briefly met the woman earlier in a pub when she had gone there to buy cigarettes. Later on, he went back to her house and asked was there a party on. She told him there was not and he went away.

He came back half an hour later and when she answered he forced his way in.

The man pulled her clothes off and had non-consensual sexual intercourse with her on the floor. During the attack, he burned her face with a cigarette.