Man found guilty of rape, assault, and coercive control of partner in Kerry

Complainant said in evidence: 'I knew I was going to be killed. Or I would kill myself — if I didn’t have kids, it would have been done a long time ago'

The jury voted unanimously to convict the accused on the charges. File picture

A man in his mid-30s has been found guilty of coercive control, rape, and assault causing harm to his partner in Kerry and on Tuesday was remanded in custody for sentencing at the Central Criminal Court on October 12.

The victim said he assaulted her by biting, slapping, kicking, choking, and pulling her hair. She said he was always angry and repeatedly threatened to kill her. She said that when he raped her, he said: “You are mine, I will do what I want to you.”

She said in her evidence: “I knew I was going to be killed. Or I would kill myself — if I didn’t have kids it would have been done a long time ago.”

The defence said there was a lack of evidence and a number of inconsistencies and that there was one key date that should cause the jury reasonable doubt in finding him guilty.

Colman Cody, defence senior counsel, said that the date in early 2022 when the complainant first approached gardaí to make a statement was the same date that the defendant revealed to her that he was in a new relationship and was getting engaged.

Mr Cody said: “She felt betrayed and angry — how dare he? How could he be having a new relationship?”

However, the jury of eight men and three women found him guilty of rape, assault causing harm and, between May 2020 and September 2021, coercively controlling his then partner, who is also in her mid-30s. 

One juror was discharged during the trial at the court sitting in Cork. The verdicts of the 11 jurors were unanimous.

Prosecution senior counsel Donal O’Sullivan said an aunt of the complainant met her after an alleged assault. She was shocked by her appearance and recalled her taking painkillers.

Took victim nine hours to make statement

At the end of her statement, which took more than nine hours to make, the victim told the sergeant that she could not put it in her statement but “he raped me twice”. It was not until subsequent statements that she included this allegation.

Mr O’Sullivan reminded the jury that during the day spent giving the statement at her home she left the room to be sick several times. On one occasion during the making of her first statement, gardaí witnessed her being curled up in a fetal position on the floor of her kitchen.

Mr O’Sullivan said: “None of the things mentioned is a smoking gun, there is no video evidence of him beating her up or raping her… but if you look at it like a big jigsaw, some of the pieces support what she said.”

As for what the accused man told gardaí at interview, Mr O’Sullivan characterised that as “a pack of lies… he is a manipulative person hoodwinking you”.

Defence senior counsel Colman Cody said to the jury: “You have walked through the ruins of a relationship — a relationship that was frequently very unhappy and volatile and eventually became toxic. This is a relationship which commenced and developed very quickly. I would suggest it was a very visceral and immediate attraction.

“The prosecution would say she became emotional and distressed during her evidence because it triggered memories of being manipulated, controlled, and coerced… but there is an alternative, more compelling interpretation: She was becoming emotional and distressed because she was being presented with the inconsistencies and contradictions as they proceeded.

“It is very important that you do not get swept up in the tide of that emotion. This is a very unattractive case; there has been a raw exposé of a very turbulent relationship. There have been bitter denunciations by both parties. 

"At times, the language may seem vindictive. You may conclude that he behaves in a manner that was not fitting. You may take the view he was insensitive, even boorish. But that does render him a rapist or a violent thug, visiting frequent assaults on her during their relationship.”

The defence senior counsel said there was an abundance of inconsistencies in the complainant’s evidence. He said that she referred to being bitten on the lips and ears by the defendant and said he was a monster who controlled her psychologically and physically.

Mr Cody said there was an absence of photographs of injuries or of medical reports to verify them and that she came and went, even though she said she was a prisoner. 

After the trial, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said that the sentencing would take place in Dublin.