Serial sex attacker jailed for six years

A serial sex attacker who raped one woman and sexually assaulted another within hours of each other has today been jailed for six years.

Christopher Farrell (aged 27) of Rathmullen Park, Drogheda, Co Louth who also has a previous conviction for attacking another female, was described in court as a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ character that was twisted by his upbringing to commit the offences.

A probation report previously given to the court stated he is at a high risk of reoffending.

Following the guilty verdict defence counsel, Mr Blaise O’Carroll SC, said the only thing he can say in mitigation about the sex attacks was that Farrell gave the victims a lift home afterwards.

He was convicted by a jury in July of the series of sexual attacks which occurred in the Drogheda area in the early hours of the morning on September 16, 2007.

Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan passed down a concurrent sentence of six years' imprisonment on four counts of rape, oral rape, attempted rape and sexual assault.

The judge heard the offences are regarded by the Director of Public Prosecutions as being at the higher end of the scale and deserving of a sentence of over 10 years.

Farrell of Rathmullen Park, Drogheda had pleaded not guilty to rape, oral rape, attempted rape and false imprisonment of one woman and sexual assault of another on September 16, 2007 at two locations in Co Louth.

Farrell’s Spanish girlfriend hugged him before he was led away.

Garda Nuala Quinn told prosecuting counsel, Ms Caroline Biggs SC, that Farrell has 26 previous convictions including assault causing harm on a female.

During the previous attack he pulled the woman by the hair to the ground when she refused to share a taxi with him in the early hours of the morning. Gda Quinn also detailed a string of public order and road traffic offences.

Defence counsel said Farrell was born into a family “overwhelmed by alcohol” and he was abused as a child. He said he then went on to abuse alcohol himself to deal with the pain.

Mr O’Carroll said Farrell is an “angry, distraught human being” who was “twisted to do what he did.” He said he was a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ character who is willing to undergo treatment courses in prison. He said his client is remorseful about the attacks and appreciates the damage he has done to his victims.

The court heard Farrell had dropped out of school after his Junior Certificate and worked sporadically since. Mr O’Carroll asked Mr Justice Sheehan to “leave some light at the end of the tunnel”.

He added that Farrell intends to emigrate to Spain on his release “to live in harmony with his girlfriend who apparently loves him dearly.”

Justice Sheehan ordered that Farrell be placed on the sex offenders register and refused a defence application to appeal.

The first victim was on a night out and left a nightclub at around 2am or 2.30am in the morning. She was offered a lift home by Farrell outside a chipper and accepted it.

She ‘blanked out’ as soon as she sat in the passenger seat and awoke about 15 minutes later to find the car parked in a field. Farrell was on top of her with his ‘privates out’ and was trying to pull down her jeans. He also had his hand down her jeans touching her genitals.

She started kicking him and said she didn’t "want this" to which he replied, "you were up for it". He returned to the driver’s seat, said he needed petrol and drove off with her in the passenger seat.

He stopped to get petrol but she was too afraid to try escaping. He then drove her to her home town, stopped the car and leaned in to kiss her. She kissed him back out of fear and agreed to later go to the cinema with him. When he asked her for her phone number, she gave him an old number she didn’t use anymore.

She got out of the car and walked home, later making a complaint to gardaí. She was later brought around a carpark by gardaí and was able to pick out her attacker’s car.

The second victim was on a night out with her boyfriend and left a nightclub at around 3am when it closed. She said she had a row with her boyfriend outside and they both went off in separate directions.

As she was walking, Farrell pulled up and offered her a lift which she accepted because she was tired. She said she could sense something wasn’t right and when he asked for her name she gave him a fake one.

She got very worried when he started to take the wrong road to her home town and when he pulled over on a country lane she started panicking and tried to open the passenger door.

He leaned across and was trying to pull the door closed so she started struggling and kicking the windscreen which cracked. She hit and scratched him, shouting ‘let me out’ until he told her to calm down and said he would take her home.

He drove on but then pulled the car in beside a red brick wall, which blocked the passenger door from being opened. He jumped over to her side, took off both their trousers and raped her.

"At this point I thought he was going to kill me because why would he not kill me after doing what he was doing," she told Ms Biggs. "‘I thought this man was capable of anything."

She agreed to perform oral sex when asked because: "I thought if I went along with him, he might not kill me."

He then tried to anally rape her but gave up, got back in the driver’s seat and said: "I’m sorry, I’ll drive you home."

During the drive he asked her if she "enjoyed that". She thought he was going to pull over and strangle her. When he dropped her off in her home town he asked her for a hug and said: "I know you didn’t enjoy that."

He kept saying, "you’re going to go to the guards" but she reassured him that she wasn’t. She left the car and noted his number plate before walking home and telling her partner what happened.

She went to the gardaí that night, made a complaint and later picked out his car in a carpark. She recognised it by the registration and the cracks in the windscreen.

Farrell said during interview that both the encounters were consensual but he wanted to write two notes of apology to the women.

When asked what he wanted to say to the woman he sexually assaulted, he replied: “Sorry for making her feel uncomfortable and that her life was any way in danger. It was a drunken mistake.”

When asked what he wanted to say to the rape victim he replied: “A drunken mistake, I didn’t rape her, it was a drunken mistake.”

Farrell agreed with gardaí that women “pissed him off”, saying “women piss everyone off”.

Referring to the rape victim, he told gardaí: “I’m very surprised the second one said anything, I thought we were getting on well.”

Both women strongly rejected suggestions by Mr Blaise O’Carroll SC, defending that the incidents were consensual.

"Why would I lie, if I consented why would I be here putting myself through this," the rape victim replied.

She added that claims by the accused that she said she trusted him and was happy to be in his company were “complete lies”.