Cork man who approached rape victim days after his release sent back to prison

Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford decided after viewing the CCTV that she would revoke half of the suspended term, so Keith Ahern was brought back into custody to serve another six months. File picture

A man convicted of raping a woman in Cork came out after a nine-year sentence and approached her on the street in breach of court orders and now he will have to serve another six months in jail.

32-year-old Keith Ahern was brought back before the Central Criminal Court where Detective Sergeant Katrine Tansley said that days after being released at the end of nine years in jail for rape, Keith Ahern breached a court order and approached the victim on the street.

Det. Garda Tansley said Keith Ahern was released from prison on January 29 with the 10th year of a 10-year sentence suspended on conditions that required him to have no contact with the victim of the rape.

The detective said the victim alleged that on February 10 this year, Keith Ahern approached her on a street in Cork City and that there was CCTV to support the allegation.

Keith Ahern was living at Sawmill Lane, Sawmill Street in Cork at the time of the rape in Cork City on a night in June 2013.

The CCTV was shown in court where there was an application by prosecution barrister Brendan Kelly to activate the suspended year of the sentence. 

Defence barrister Alan O’Dwyer said no physical contact was made, no words were spoken and that the extent to which there was an encounter was entirely accidental.

Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford decided after viewing the CCTV that she would revoke half of the suspended term, so Keith Ahern was brought back into custody to serve another six months.

“I am satisfied he is in breach of the conditions. It may have commenced accidentally but I don’t believe it continued accidentally… Such a contact cannot be tolerated,” Ms Lankford said.

In the original rape conviction, he did not physically rape the woman himself but he was part of a joint enterprise by holding the woman down while his friend raped her. He pleaded not guilty to rape but a jury found him guilty.