Nine-year sentence for man who raped prostitute

A Dublin man has been jailed for nine years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court for raping a prostitute in a disused railway carriage at Heuston Station.

Martin Stafford (aged 38) with an address at Cork Street in the Coombe area of Dublin, pleaded guilty to raping the then 28-year-old victim on March 10-11, 2005.

Her ordeal lasted from shortly after 7.30pm until she succeeded in alerting gardaí, who released her at about 5.30am. She had been threatened with a scissors or knife and with a hammer which she also used at one stage to try to defend herself against her attacker.

Stafford’s 23 previous included a seven-year sentence in 1997 for false imprisonment of an office block cleaning lady whom he forced at knife point to perform oral sex on him, another false imprisonment of a woman in 2002 as well as burglaries, thefts and road traffic offences.

Mr Justice Carney directed that Stafford be registered as a sex offender and that he undergo a further nine years post-release supervision.

He said the facts outlined struck him as being strikingly similar to the Robert Melia case in which his sentence of nine years had been increased to 12 years by the Court of Criminal Appeal where the Director of Public Prosecutions objected to the lower sentence.

"The DPP has a lot to say in the Court of Criminal Appeal behind my back but very little in this court to my face," he said.

Inspector Joseph Crowe told Mr Paul Carroll BL, prosecuting, that the woman had sex previously with Stafford in an old cabin at Heuston Station where he said he was working overnight. He paid her €100.

She went there again with him on the night of March 10-111, 2005 and this time he locked the door from the inside and told her she was getting no money this time and would have sex with him "the way I like it and you will strip off everything" before he decided when she could leave.

Stafford then pushed her down on a bed and picked up a hammer, threatening to smash her face in. She stripped naked and then gave him oral sex at his command before ordering her to turn over and then raping her twice.

The woman said Stafford then began drinking from cans he bought en route and told her he was "going to lash me out all night and that I wouldn’t be going home till he said". He rolled some joints and smoked them in front of the still-naked woman, to whom he threw an Iarnód Éireann worker’s fluorescent jacket.

Inspt Crowe said Stafford then again ordered her to perform oral sex on him and again raped her while shouting at her to stop crying.

The frightened woman secreted the hammer under the jacket and when Stafford turned his head she struck him a blow on the side of his head, but he grabbed the hammer from her while screaming that she was "in for it and was going to be punished" for what she did.

Stafford told her again he was not letting her go and she would have to stay to "satisfy his needs".

Inspt Crowe said Stafford then had vaginal sex with her for about 20 minutes before he got into bed with the victim after she had been to the toilet. He fell asleep some 15 minutes later and after some time she used her phone to contact the gardaí, who had difficulty hearing her because she was whispering to avoid waking him.

She had to make a second call and was told the gardaí were on their way but she would have to make a noise so that they could find her. She turned a radio on loud and Stafford woke up.

Shortly after that the gardaí began knocking on the cabin door and Stafford ordered her to say she was his girlfriend before he answered the door with no clothes on. The victim told gardaí it was the worst experience of her life and she was happy to have got away from Stafford. She was with him from 7.30pm to 5.30am.

Inspt Crowe told Mr Carroll that the victim suffered recurring nightmares and was on medication for depression and anxiety but hoped she would be healed in time. He added she was glad the man pleaded guilty so that she did not have to give evidence at a trial.

Inspt Crowe agreed with Ms Isobel Kennedy SC (with Mr Luigi Rea BL), defending, that Stafford indicated about a week before his scheduled trial that he would plead guilty.

He came from a dysfunctional and grief-stricken background. His mother died of cancer when he was 14 and three of his siblings also died. He became a chronic abuser of drugs from about that time.

Inspt Crowe agreed that life had not been kind to Stafford and that when offered friendship and kindness he could react very well.

Ms Kennedy said that at the time of the offence Stafford was homeless and living in deprived conditions in the rail cabin. He was very remorseful for his actions and asked that Inspt Crowe convey that to the victim. His guilty plea was given on the grounds that he accepted full responsibility for his actions.