'I fear the world' - Corkman jailed for rape of sleeping woman in park

The woman said she is happy O’Connor pleaded guilty “and people will know that I was telling the truth”.

Dermot O’Connor of St John Terrace, World’s End, Kinsale, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to rape at the park on July 21, 2019. File photo

A Cork man who raped a woman in a public park after she lay there to sleep having become separated from her friends on a night out has been jailed for five-and-a-half years.

Dermot O'Connor (49) was sleeping rough in the park that night, when the 20-year-old victim, who was clearly intoxicated, came in and found a secluded place to sleep. He first sexually assaulted the woman while she was sleeping and left, but returned again to rape her.