Clare rapist sent to jail for breaching bond rules

The Clare man who got a three-year suspended sentence last March for raping a woman in her home while she slept has been jailed by Mr Justice Paul Carney for breaching his bond.

Adam Keane (aged 20) was found by Mr Justice Carney to have "flicked a cigarette at or in the direction of" the victim at Ennis Railway Station on the evening of March 12 last.

"I am satisfied he made a triumphalist gesture which was a breach of his bond on which the ink was barely dry", Mr Justice Carney said. "In view of the limb this court went out on in respect of Mr Keane, he should have acted with the greatest circumspection."

Keane, a bricklayer, of Barnageeha, Daragh, Clare, was convicted in February by a 10-2 majority of the jury at the Central Criminal Court of raping a now 33-year-old woman in a house in a County Clare town on May 30, 2005.

He was given a three years suspended sentence on March 12 and entered into a bond to keep the peace after the court was told he intended to go to England as soon as possible.

Mr Justice Carney said the hearing on the issue of Keane breaching his bond arose out of "an editorial in the Irish Examiner" and he accepted the evidence of the victim and members of her family that he had flicked a cigarette "at or in their direction ….. In a triumphalist gesture" only hours after leaving the court in March.

"This amounts to an assault, or at least to a breach of the peace and is a breach of the bond entered into in this court," Mr Justice Carney ruled and ordered that he begin to serve the sentence immediately.

"My tolerance of breaches of court orders is well known to be nil and the threshold of proof I require to find a breach is very low."

Earlier, he heard evidence from the victim and members of her family who claimed variously on oath that Keane had sneered and smirked at them before raising his hand and flicking the cigarette in their direction before he got into his family car to be driven home.

The victim's father said he had wanted "to look at the face of the man who did that to my daughter" and that Keane threw his cigarette towards them "in an act of defiance".

He said in reply to defence counsel, Mr Brendan Nix SC (with Mr Mark Nicholas BL), that Keane had "an evil look on his face" and was acting "like the man who got away with it - with rape".

Keane, his mother, Mrs Annie Keane and a female friend all denied these claims in evidence on oath and said they went out of their way to avoid contact or confrontation. The friend also said in her evidence that one of the victim's family said to her she was "dead" and that she had reported this to the gardaí.

The victim agreed in her evidence on this issue, that she "had words" with Keane's friend and shouted at her that she was "an eejit for standing by him".

Mr Justice Carney, in his judgement, said there were always "a lot of mischievous people who like to misrepresent the proceedings of this court in cases like this" and he directed that a transcript of his judgement be made available to the media.

He said he imposed a suspended sentence in this case last March "in full knowledge of the vituperation that would fall on my head from all quarters". By reason of that knowledge, he said, he "switched off" from "Joe Duffy, the tabloids and the Sunday papers".

Mr Justice Carney outlined the reasons he imposed the suspended sentence. In "a broadly similar case" the sentence he had imposed was suspended on appeal but "there was not a peep from anyone about that".

"I believe sentences should be both consistent and broadly predictable and that is why I followed the guidance of the 'NY' case," he said.

Secondly, he had accepted "perhaps wrongly" from Mr Nix that the proceedings had concentrated Keane's mind "into sorting out his difficulties".

Thirdly, he said, he had regard to Keane's previous good character and the fact that he would be affected for the rest of his life by being certified as a sex offender.

"I had regard to the fact that this was not rape in the ordinary sense of that word but that it only became rape when an issue arose as to the identity of the second person in the bed. That second person was not a stranger but part of the victim's social circle, even if someone disliked by her," Mr Justice Carney said.

He said the fifth reason was that he had "excessive regard from the mantra coming down from the higher courts that I should concern myself with the offender and not the offence".

Mr Justice Carney said at the sentence hearing in March that his decision was based on a ruling by the Court of Criminal Appeal following an appeal in relation to the sentence imposed by him in the 'NY' case, brought by the Director of Public Prosecutions who regarded it as 'moderate'.

Mr Justice Carney said that appeal was lost and the sentencing was set aside in its entirety.

"Having regard to the approach taken by the CCA to this type of offence in this type of case, I have to ask myself whether I would be comfortable to imprison this young man who said it was out of character for him, but that if the DNA said he had done it, he wouldn't shy away from his responsibility, " he said in March.

Mr Justice Carney added then: "People from respectable homes taking alcohol or drugs and then committing rape or murder come before the court with surprising frequency."

At the trial last February, the victim told prosecuting counsel, Ms Pauline Walley SC (with Ms Mary Rose Gearty BL), that she woke from her sleep around midnight to find someone cuddling her.

At first she thought the man was her boyfriend who had left the house earlier that evening after an argument. By the time she realised the man was not her boyfriend, he had started to have sex with her.

She said she threw him off her and turned on the lights and recognised the man as then 18-year-old Keane.

She ran from the house and when gardaí later arrived at the scene, Keane was still in her bedroom.

Garda Lorraine Mongan said Keane told gardaí he couldn't remember coming into her house or anything about the attack as he blacked-out after drinking heavily and taking 'ecstasy' in a nightclub.

He said he didn't think it possible he had raped her because he had never raised a hand to a woman in his life as it "went against everything" he believed.

He said he blacked-out regularly after heavy drinking and explained: "That's why I've been thinking about giving up the drink for some time."

However, he said he would accept any DNA evidence proving him as the person who was in the bed.

The victim said in her victim impact report that the rape had had a huge impact on her life and that she had to move house twice since the event.

Mr Nix submitted at the sentence hearing that Keane "deeply regretted" what happened and noted also that he "had not really challenged any evidence in the case".