Romanian men who sexually assaulted woman to be sentenced tomorrow

Two Romanian men who sexually assaulted a Tipperary woman after she had consensual sex with a third man will be sentenced tomorrow by Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy at the Central Criminal Court.

The teenage woman at first claimed the men forced her into a car in Clonmel and took her to a quiet, rural place near Cahir and raped her there but later admitted to gardaí that this wasn’t true.

Detective Garda Tom Kelly told prosecuting counsel, Mr Brendan Grehan SC, she said she made the false claim because she was "ashamed" of having sex with the man she had approached and kissed outside a disco.

Constantin Mariscariu (aged 24) of The Avenue, Barnora, Cahir, Co Tipperary and Ionat Hoinaru (aged 30) of no fixed abode pleaded guilty to sexual assault of the woman on March 16, 2008.

They changed their plea from not guilty after a jury was sworn in for their trial on March 23 last.

Both admitted to gardaí that they forced the woman to perform oral sex on them in the room where she had had sex with the third man, who also had been originally arrested on foot of her false claim.

She has accepted €5,000 compensation offered by Mariscariu as a token of his remorse. He has been on bail but Hoinaru, a worker who has no permanent address here but worked with a funfair operation based in Cashel, has been in custody where he was subject to racialist attacks.