Soldier changes plea in rape trial

A Tallaght man who viciously raped, beat and threatened to kill a woman he abducted from a busy road has received an eight-year sentence with one suspended.

Gary Kinsella, a soldier at Cathal Brugha Barracks, changed his plea on day-two of his trial to guilty of rape, oral rape and threatening to kill the then 37-year-old woman on August 8, 2008.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to assault causing harm as the jury was being sworn in at the Central Criminal Court.

Kinsella (aged 27) of Allenton Avenue, Tallaght has five previous convictions for road traffic and public order offences.

The woman had described in evidence how she had passed a stranger while walking home from the gym and realised he was following her further along the route but didn’t have time to seek help at a row of houses because he came up quickly behind her, grabbed her hair and dragged her across the street through presbytery gates.

The woman had told Ms PaulineWalley SC, prosecuting, that her attacker beat her about the face, fractured her nose and threatened to kill her as he dragged her screaming to the secluded garden behind the presbytery.

She said he hauled her clothes off and dragged her naked to a gap between bushes and the garden fence, where he forced his penis in her mouth and then raped her.

The victim gave further evidence that Kinsella also anally raped her before subjecting her to more sex assaults.

She said her attacker got up and leaped over the garden fence when gardaí arrived on the scene with torches and she fled naked towards the presbytery gates, where she saw more officers and patrol cars.

Mr Justice George Birmingham noted that Kinsella’s offences were at the “upper end of the scale” considering the predatory elements of stalking, forced abduction and physical violence accompanied by multiple threats to kill.

Mr Justice Birmingham said Kinsella’s claims of being drunk at the time “offered no excuse” but he did get credit for his late pleas.

The judge said Kinsella would have received “considerable credit” for an early plea as his victim had since moved abroad, but he suspended the final year of the sentence to encourage others that even a late plea gets credit.

Mr Padraig O’Dwyer SC, defending, had previously read out a letter addressed to the court and written by his client the night after hearing the complainant’s evidence.

In the letter Kinsella, who had once been voted top recruit in his year, apologised to his victim and said it was “obvious” after listening to her that his actions had turned her life “upside down”.

He admitted he caused her great physical and mental anguish, said his actions were “fuelled by alcohol” and added that he’s “never harboured any fantasy of rape or violence against women”.

He said though his life as he knew it was over, he hoped his victim would be able to get back “some semblance” of normality, adding: “I will be forever ashamed of the pain I’ve caused you.”

Kinsella also apologised to his family saying: “I was not raised to behave like an animal,” and added that this was not a self-serving letter.

Detective Garda Paul Lynch told Ms Walley that he and a colleague arrived on the scene with flashlights following various phone calls from passers-by who had seen the abduction and heard the victim’s screams.

He said Kinsella got up from bushes behind the parochial house and leaped over a wall before being chased down and arrested, while his victim simultaneously ran naked and bleeding towards the flashing garda car lights.

Kinsella shouted: “I knew her, I was with her all evening” before the gardaí cautioned him, and again after his arrest.

He denied in interview that the woman had been screaming and crying, denied he beat and threatened her, claimed he had “blacked out” on whiskey and that the sex was consensual.

He also claimed he had met the woman in a pub that evening and said “she didn’t say she didn’t want sex”.

He eventually admitted sex and oral sex took place.

Det Gda Lynch told Ms Walley that forensic testing found Kinsella’s semen on the victim’s vagina, his DNA on her anal area and her blood on his hoodie cuff.

The detective garda said the victim had been happy in Dublin and worked a well-paid, highly skilled job before the attack forced her to move abroad where she now works as a cleaner.

He said the victim still has not told her family about her ordeal and that the trial, which was first scheduled for last year, added to her trauma as she had to return to Dublin each time.

The victim has suffered depression, anxiety, insomnia, flashbacks and frequent, disturbing nightmares. She has lost interest in her appearance, is on “high-alert” when she goes out and feels uncomfortable around men.

Det Gda Lynch said the woman felt dirty for some time after the attack, which she blames for the relationship breakdown with her boyfriend.

Det Gda Lynch said she was relieved she was not put through cross-examination but feels the attack will stay with her for the rest of her life.

Mr O’Dwyer had submitted to Mr Justice Birmingham that his client wished to reiterate his apology to the victim.

He submitted that Kinsella was “simply in a state of disbelief that he was responsible for such an attack” and the truth had only dawned on him when he heard his victim’s evidence in court.

Mr O’Dwyer said the woman was not subjected to cross-examination because his client “finally had the courage” to admit his guilt.

Counsel submitted that: “Had it not been for his (Kinsella’s) gross intoxication on the night, inhibitions wouldn’t have been removed and the offence would never have happened.”

He said an intensive psychological analysis found that Kinsella’s thinking was different to a “reference group” of adult male sex offenders.

Mr O’Dwyer submitted that his client would be at low risk of re-offending if he remains drug and alcohol free.

Mr Justice Birmingham ordered that Kinsella undergoes two years of post release supervision and that he complies with any drug and alcohol treatment programmes recommended by the probation services.