Rapist's mother makes plea to judge

A Carlow mother has told a Central Criminal Court judge her son failed to appear for his sentence for rape because he received a threatening letter from inmates at Arbour Hill prison saying they were "looking forward" to his arrival.

Mr Justice Paul Carney had directed that the man’s parents appear before him after he was told a week ago they had contact with their son who failed to appear for sentence on October 15, 2001 following his remand on bail. A bench warrant is in existence for his arrest.

Michael Christian Moran (aged 24), of Woodgrove, Tullow Road, Carlow pleaded guilty on July 24, 2001 to raping a 27-year-old woman in a residential area of the town while she was walking home from a hen-party on July 18, 1999.

His guilty plea came on the second day of his trial following legal argument in the absence of the jury. He had earlier denied the rape, sexual assault and false imprisonment of the woman.

Mrs Phyllis Moran pleaded with Mr Justice Carney in a letter to consider imposing a suspended sentence on her son on condition he continued with his counseling for the rest of his life.

Mrs Moran was in court but wasn’t called to give oral evidence.

Mr Justice Carney said if Moran turned up in court he would accommodate his mother’s wishes if he was convinced of the truth about the letter.

Mr Justice Carney read out Mrs Moran’s letter in which she said she believed from his judgements printed in newspapers that he was a fair man.

She said her son had been in counseling and had surprised his family with his strength in dealing with the certainty he would receive a custodial sentence. He was prepared to come to court for sentencing until he received the Arbour Hill letter on August 13, 2001.

She said her son would not let her see the contents but she said she could very well imagine what was in it. He disappeared soon afterwards and she said they had no way of contacting him but had to wait for him to get in touch with them.

Mrs Moran said she read a book by Deirdre Purcell about a man accused of rape. She could relate a lot to the book and if more people read books like this they might see "the grey areas of life" as well as the black and white.

Mr Justice Carney said he had read this book, "Love like hate adore", after he received Ms Moran’s letter and found it very moving. He noted that people in Moran’s situation had a very distressing time and often consider suicide.

He said, however, that he could not accept Mrs Moran’s information about the letter as it was hearsay when it came from her. He would need to hear it from Moran personally and to be convinced of the truth before he could act.

He said he was informed by the gardai previously that Moran’s parents were able to contact him and felt his offer had been thrown back in his face.

Mr Justice Carney said he would not tolerate people being on the run but also would not have "thugs" operating a parallel justice system and said he knew perfectly well who they are influenced by.

When he issued the bench warrant, just over a year ago, Mr Justice Carney noted it was the first time a person given bail by him to appear for sentence had not appeared, even though they could anticipate they were going to jail for a substantial period.

Mr Justice Carney added then that he would not suddenly change his practice over this one instance but if it happened again he might have to reconsider allowing convicted rapists bail.

Moran pleaded guilty to raping the 27-year-old woman on July 24 last on the second day of the trial following legal argument in the absence of the jury.

He had earlier pleaded not guilty to rape, sexual assault and false imprisonment of the woman.