Ten year sentence for convicted rapist

A 26-year-old man who raped a Waterford student while she walked home alone from a disco last November has been jailed for 10 years by Mr Justice Barry White at the Central Criminal Court.

Philip Redmond, with addresses at William Street and Birchwood Court, had been residing in

Waterford for about a month at the time following his release from an English prison sentence. He was born in Dublin but lived in England from three years of age.

The jury convicted him in August on seven of the eight charges before it following a 10-day trial.

Redmond was found guilty on four charges of rape, and one each of aggravated sexual assault, threatening to kill the student and robbing her mobile phone on the same occasion, November 8, 2006.

Garda Joyce Donoghue told Mr Kerida Naidoo BL that Redmond had 31 convictions in England including one for assault causing serious harm. Most of his crimes comprised theft and burglary.

Gda Donoghue said that on the night of the attack the victim went to a local chip shop with friends after a night out. Her friends had left for home but she stayed because she wanted to talk to some friends. She asked a group of people, including Redmond for a light, and a short time later started walking home.

Redmond followed her and grabbed her from behind. He dragged her down an alleyway to a small secluded carpark where he raped repeatedly over a two and a half hour period against the bonnet of a car.

During the attack Redmond kept his hand over her mouth and told her to "shut up" and not to be a "baby" when she started crying.

He told her he was "capable of a lot of things" and that if she didn't have sex with him she would "end up like Meg", a reference to an ongoing local murder investigation concerning a woman who had been pulled out of the River Suir not long before that.

Gda Donoghue said that Redmond eventually let her go and walked with her part of the way home, continually advising her not to tell anyone. He also took her mobile phone. When she arrived home she told her family and friends and was taken to hospital.

Superintendent Chris Delaney, Clonmel told prosecuting counsel, Mr John O'Kelly SC (with Mr Naidoo), at the trial, that he was Acting Superintendent in Waterford at the time.

Supt Delaney said he went back to the car park the evening after the alleged rape to check security lights there and noticed "a human figure hunched down in vegetation". He trained the lights of his car on this person and parked with the lights shining on him.

Supt Delaney told Mr O'Kelly he identified himself to the man, Redmond, who appeared to be speaking to someone on a mobile phone and asked him what he was doing there.

Redmond said he had been speaking to his brother and had come in to the car park to make the call because he couldn't get a good reception on the road.

Supt Delaney said he thought Redmond was acting nervously as he was continuously fidgeting with the phone. He arrested him under the provisions of the Misuse of Drugs Act and brought him to the station.

Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC (with Mr Ronan Munro BL), defending told Mr Justice White that Redmond had a difficult childhood. He suffered from dyslexia which caused difficulties in his interacting with the world.

His parents' separation when he was 12 had been traumatic and he himself had been raped on several occasions by a male relative.

Mr O'Carroll said that Redmond had been assaulted by a fellow inmate while in custody in Cork Prison and asked that he be moved elsewhere to serve his sentence.

Mr Justice White who certified Redmond for registration as a sex offender said he had to take into account all the factors when passing sentence.

"It is clear from the Victim Impact Report that the victim has been traumatised by the events that occurred in the early hours of November 8, 2006 and further that she was traumatised by the ordeal of having to testify her in court."

However, Mr Justice White conceded that Redmond had now taken responsibility for his actions and appeared to show some remorse.

He sentenced Redmond to ten years each for the four charges of rape and one of aggravated sexual assault and a further three years each for charges of threatening to kill the victim and the theft of her mobile phone.

All the sentences will run concurrently. Mr Justice White also formally refused leave to appeal conviction and sentence.