Violent rapist 'prayed for victim'

A Dublin father-of-three who violently raped a woman he had just met that night at a house party has been remanded in custody pending sentence at the Central Criminal Court.

James Kelly (aged 30) of Willow Wood View, Hartstown, pleaded guilty on the morning of his trial to one count each of rape, anal rape and oral rape of the now 35-year-old woman at a Dublin apartment on April 4, 2007. He was registered as a sex offender.

Kelly, who had been attending a back-to-education course in Maynooth College at the time, later told a psychologist that he regularly prayed for his victim and had turned to religion in an attempt to get his life back on course.

Detective Sergeant Mark Waters told Ms Rosario Boyle SC (with Mr Kerida Naidoo BL), prosecuting, that Kelly went back to the woman’s flat, which she had just vacated earlier that day, on her invitation where they continued to drink cans of beer.

He came into the sitting room having used the bathroom, showed the woman his penis and asked her what she thought of it. She replied that it was not as big as her ex-boyfriend’s and told him to “put it away”.

Det Sgt Waters said that Kelly then grabbed the woman by her hair and forced her to perform oral sex before he tied his belt around her neck and raped her. He then pushed her head into the carpet and forced her to have anal sex.

The woman later described to gardaí that she had been in fear for her life and Kelly had threatened to kill her.

She got dressed after the assault and told Kelly she was going to get cigarettes before she left the flat and immediately reported the rape to the gardaí.

The woman was later treated in hospital for multiple bruises to her body including a large bruise across her eye and another on the bridge of her nose.

Kelly has 19 previous convictions which included a four year jail term for arson that he received last February from Judge Tony Hunt at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after he admitted to causing €490,000 worth of damage to a building.

Det Sgt Waters told Ms Boyle that Kelly came voluntarily to the garda station the day after the alleged incident.

He told gardaí that the woman had been “half coming on to me” and was flirting with him but admitted he had slapped her in the face and told her they were going to have sex.

Kelly said he forced himself on the victim and had grabbed her by the neck. He accepted she had been scared of him.

“I raped her and held her down,” Kelly said. “I felt I was out of control. I don’t use violence in sex.”

Mr Gerry O’Brien SC, defending, told Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, that a report from a consultant psychiatrist before the court stated that Kelly regularly prayed for his victim and felt deep remorse and shame for what he had done.

He had carried a rope around with him for the last year in order to end his life if his mood became unbearable.

The report concluded that Kelly “did not present as an evil or violent man”. He was a chronic alcoholic and drug addict who had attended a number of treatment centres for rehabilitation but had failed to complete them.

A victim impact report prepared for the court by a senior clinical psychologist concluded that woman had suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and a relapse into depression as a result of the rapes.

She had taken an overdose a number of months ago but had said that this could not be directly attributed to Kelly’s attack on her.

She suffers from nightmares most nights, has poor concentration, has lost her trust in men and sometimes experiences a choking sensation when eating due to the trauma she suffered as a result of the oral rape.

Mr Justice McCarthy adjourned the case to tomorrow for finalisation.