Limerick man sentenced for rape of woman in wooded area

A Limerick man who intervened to stop a woman being hassled and then viciously raped her has been sentenced to 14 years.

A Limerick man who intervened to stop a woman being hassled only to then viciously rape her has been sentenced to 14 years.

Timmy Tobin (aged 29) laughed when the woman offered to give him everything she had and responded that if she gave him oral sex he would not rape her.

The next day he handed himself into gardaí and admitted everything. He said he had raped her because she had rejected his advances and he felt “let down and insulted”.

Tobin, from Hogan Avenue, Kileely, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to four counts of rape and anal rape against the woman, a foreign national, on August 14, 2009 in a wooded area in Limerick City.

He has six previous conviction including a seven year sentence for aggravated burglary and a five year sentence for a serious assault.

Mr Justice Barry White commented: “You subjected your victim to a most horrific ordeal over a period of one to one and a half hours. You physically assaulted her, forced oral sex on her, raped her and then anally raped her.

“You forced her to wash herself in a stream for purposes of eliminating any trace of evidence and then made good your escape.”

He said the effects the incident had on his victim and his list of previous “substantial” offences meant a term of 14 years was deserved.

However, he took into account his remorse and that he handed himself into gardaí hours after the offence and suspended the final five years on strict conditions for five years.

He also ordered Tobin be added to the sex offenders register.

Detective Sergeant Patrick O'Callaghan earlier told prosecuting counsel, Mr Cormac Quinn BL, that the woman was out with her boyfriend in Limerick city but they had a row and she went home early.

She could not get into her home as she had no keys and while she was waiting outside a man approached her and demanded she give him her cigarettes or he would take them from her.

Tobin was passing by and saw this. He told the man to leave her alone and that he was “a McCarthy”, a reference to the Limerick crime gang.

The man left the scene and Tobin started talking to the woman. He again said he was “a McCarthy” but she did not know what this meant.

They went for a walk together through a wooded area and he went to kiss her but she just kissed him on the cheek and smiled. He then punched her in the head causing her to fall into the undergrowth.

He hit her repeatedly and told her: “All I want is sex from you, then you can go home.”

She cried and offered to give Tobin everything she had on her but he laughed and said: “What have you got?”

He said if she gave him oral sex he would not do anything else but then raped her and later anally raped her.

He then told her he was going to take her to the river to wash the evidence from her and said he was not stupid and if she went to the gardaí he would just say they had consensual sex.

At that point he heard someone approaching and started to choke the woman, making her believe she was about to die.

When the passerby left he took her to the river and made her strip and then washed her genitals. He then started to sexually assault her again. He picked up a rock and threatened to hit her if she did not lie down. Again he raped her vaginally and anally.

He washed her again before they started walking away. She picked up a rock and so did he. He told her if she put the rock down he would put his down. She then threatened to kill him if he came near her.

He broke down crying and apologised to the woman, saying he had too much to drink and could not control himself. He fled and went to his girlfriend's house where he confessed to her what he had done and burned his clothes and mobile phone.

The victim went home and her boyfriend took her to the garda station. The next day Tobin came in and said he wanted to confess. He said he had drank eight cans of beer and taken several anti-depressants that day.

“Oh God, I'm sorry”, he told gardaí. “I've never done anything like this before, I accept my punishment”

Mr Justice White commented that it must be “unique in Limerick history that someone handed themselves into a garda station immediately after an incident”.

Defence counsel, Mr Anthony Sammon SC, submitted that there was “some decency in his client” demonstrated by his remorse and co-operation with gardaí. He said Tobin had considered suicide after the rape and was no longer with his girlfriend.

The woman's victim impact report stated that she had scars and deformities in her fingers due to the assault.

She said her relationship with her boyfriend had ended because of it and she sometimes had nightmares where she relives the event.

She was forced to stop working in nightclubs and bars because she was frightened of walking home at night and now has no job or money.

However she said she was studying and “putting her life back together”.