'Menace to females' jailed for sexual assault

A serial sex offender has been jailed for six years which he is to serve consecutive to a current six-year rape sentence after he was described by Judge Frank O'Donnell as a "walking menace to every female out there" .

Derek Caffrey (aged 40) of Edenmore Gardens, Raheny has received the new six-year term at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for sexually assaulting a young Japanese woman on February 12, 2006 in the female toilet at Barry's Hotel, Great Denmark Street, near the city centre.

Caffrey, described by gardaí as "a danger to women", is already serving a six year prison term imposed by the Central Criminal Court for sexually assaulting a 29-year-old woman near his home on November 1, 2002 after telling her his mother would like to meet her because "you are well-spoken and a snob".

Judge O'Donnell noted Caffrey has three further previous convictions for sex offences and said he had left a trail of victims . "The female population of the country have to be protected from him," he said.

Judge O'Donnell directed the six-year sentence for assaulting the Japanese woman be served at the end of his current sentence, that he undergo post release supervision for four years following his release and recommended that he receive whatever treatment necessary while in prison.

Detective Garda Pat Keegan earlier told Ms Cathleen Noctor BL, prosecuting, that Caffrey was a "habitual sex offender" and had asked to join the Japanese woman and her boyfriend who were drinking in the hotel bar telling them he was a security man.

The victim went to the ladies toilet and while in a cubicle heard some one call out: "Are you ok, are you ok?"

When she opened the cubicle door Caffrey was there. She tried to move past him and he approached her, held her hands and rubbed her waist and breasts while she cried out "no, no, no".

Caffrey attempted to pull down his trousers but the victim managed to get out to the corridor where her screams attracted hotel staff.

A female staff member told gardaí she heard screaming from the basement and then heard a man's voice saying "calm down, relax". A doorman stopped Caffrey leaving before gardaí arrived.

Caffrey told gardaí he "did nothing wrong" and "didn't go near the girl". He said she had fallen down and he was helping her up.

Det Gda Keegan said much of the interview consisted of Caffrey "rambling" and said "it was unsettling for those who had to listen to it".

He agreed with Mr Michael Bowman BL, defending, that Caffrey had "psychiatric difficulties with a history of committal in the UK and Ireland". He also agreed that although the victim had been extremely distressed at the time she was "a robust young lady".

Mr Bowman said Caffrey had sporadic employment over 20 years as a kitchen porter and had also spent time in the Merchant Navy during which he claims he was raped at least nine times by ship mates.

Mr Bowman said Caffrey suffered from a combination of schizophrenia and a psychotic mood disorder and that his adherence to his medication regime had been "sporadic at best".

Caffrey was jailed for six years on December 18 last (2006) by Mr Justice Philip O'Sullivan at the Central Criminal Court for sexually assaulting the now 29-year-old woman he brought "to meet" his mother.

He had been convicted by a jury in July of sexually assaulting her in daylight on a green park area near his home on November 1, 2002 after his now deceased mother ordered them out of her house because they were drunk.

Mr Justice O'Sullivan backdated that six year sentence to September 21, 2003, directed that Caffrey undergo four years post-release supervision and recommended that he receive "therapeutic assistance" while in jail.