Romanians who assaulted woman given five years each

Two Romanian men who sexually assaulted a Tipperary woman have been jailed for five years by Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy at the Central Criminal Court.

The teenage victim initially claimed she was forced into a car in Clonmel and taken to a quiet, rural place near Cahir and raped by one man but later admitted to gardaí that this wasn’t true.

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

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

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 as a token of his remorse by Mariscariu who has been on bail.

Hoinaru, who has no permanent address here but worked around Munster with a Cashel-based funfair operation, has been in custody in Limerick Prison but was subject to racist attacks and moved to another jail.

Neither had any previous convictions in Ireland or in Romania.

Mr Justice McCarthy called it "a nasty and opportunistic crime" and said they had "taken advantage of her in a very gross manner". He also critised Hoinaru for "obnoxiously" telling gardaí the woman was a prostitute.

He imposed one-year post-release supervision on Mariscariu and added both men to the sex offenders' register

Det. Gda Kelly said the three men were filmed on CCTV footage outside O’Keefe’s in Clonmel where they all met up and she had asked the man she later had sex with if she could go with him "to your place and you can drive me home in the morning".

Hoinaru told gardaí "she was jumping all over" this man on the drive to what was described as "a rough barn-type accommodation" in a rural area outside Cahir. They all enjoyed music and dancing before she went to a bedroom with him and both undressed.

Det. Gda Kelly said she used a condom she had in her bag because the man didn’t have one and the sexual activity between them didn’t last long.

When this man returned from the toilet, he found the bedroom door locked with Mariscariu and Hoinaru inside. He heard her being asked to do oral sex and shouting back: "No, no, no."

Det. Gda Kelly said that the third man reported she "didn’t seem too upset" when they left the room but he decided he didn’t want her in the place anymore and took her back to the Clonmel area.

Mariscariu and the third man were arrested first and Hoinaru came to the garda station voluntarily some days later in the company of someone from the funfair operation.

Det. Gda Kelly told Mr Grehan that Mariscariu said he went to the room because he wanted to have sex with her and was followed by Hoinaru, who agreed with gardaí that he knew what he did was wrong and didn’t enjoy the escapade, which lasted for about 30 seconds in each of their cases.

"Yes, yes, I knew she didn’t want this. I’m guilty. It was a big mistake," Hoinaru told gardaí.

Det. Gda Kelly said Hoinaru added: "I wouldn’t have put a finger on her if I hadn’t drunk 10 pints of cider in Clonmel."

He said the victim didn’t want to give evidence in relation to the impact the matter had on her and was relieved the case hadn’t gone to trial.

Mr Grehan told Mr Justice McCarthy that the maximum sentence in view of the woman’s age was 10 years and the Director of Public Prosecutions considered the case to be in the middle-range for sentencing in view of all the circumstances, including that no gratuitous violence was involved.