Tralee man jailed for over 12 years rape and assault of former partner

'I realise now why victims of rape and abuse don’t come forward having their character shredded to pieces,' says woman

The Central Criminal Court heard on Friday that the woman wants to retain her anonymity, but wishes for Krystian Zahnoj to be named in the reporting of the case. File picture

A man has been jailed for 12-and-a-half years for raping and assaulting his former partner.

Krystian Zahnoj, aged 32, of Market Street, Tralee, Co. Kerry, was convicted of rape and assault causing harm on a date in 2022 by a Central Criminal Court jury in Cork earlier this year.

He was further convicted of assault causing harm and coercively controlling the woman on dates between 2019 and 2021, when he and the injured party were in a relationship.

The Central Criminal Court heard on Friday that the woman wants to retain her anonymity, but wishes for Zahnoj to be named in the reporting of the case.

In her victim impact statement read to the court during an earlier hearing, the woman said that life has not been the same since, that she suffers from PTSD, and is now in counselling.

“I realise now why victims of rape and abuse don’t come forward,” she said, adding “having their character shredded to pieces”. 

The woman said the whole system has to be overhauled in order to protect women but that she was pleased she had persevered.

Passing sentence on Friday, Mr Justice Paul McDermott noted that the victim impact statement outlined the nature of the suffering endured by the woman during her relationship with Zahnoj and over the course of these offences.

He noted that the woman’s entire life has been affected and that she spoke of finding the criminal process “very difficult to endure”.

The judge said the woman, like many people who come to court, “resented” features of the process, including cross-examination, “that can be not only intrusive but very hurtful to people who have to endure it”.

He noted that the trial was conducted within “ordinary professional boundaries”, but said this doesn’t offer any comfort to the injured party, who had shown “enormous courage” coming through the process.

Zahnoj has 22 previous convictions for minor drugs, road traffic, and public order offences. Mr Justice McDermott noted Zahnoj’s offences “pale in significance” to these matters.

Couple had on/off relationship

An investigating garda previously told Donal O’Sullivan, prosecuting, the couple began an on/off relationship in 2019, where she would leave and come back again. Zahnoj became coercive and controlling and there were episodes of violence, the court was told.

After the relationship was over and the woman had moved to a new home in 2022, Zahnoj forced her front door open, assaulted her, then raped her.

Mr Justice McDermott said on Friday it was aggravating that the circumstances of the rape involved the “violent forceful entry” into her home, where the woman ought to have been safe and secure.

The judge said the court’s view was the rape and assault in 2022 appeared to be a “continuation of an attitude towards her that permeated the coercive control and earlier assault”.

He said the headline sentence for the rape count should reflect and take into account the overall criminality Zahnoj engaged in towards the woman.

Mr Justice McDermott set a headline sentence of 13 years.

He said there was “very little to be said by way of mitigation” as Zahnoj had offered no expression of remorse or acceptance of responsibility.

He imposed a sentence of 12 years and six months, backdated to when Zahnoj went into custody.

The judge also imposed a five-year post release supervision order, noting Zahnoj’s attitude to his offending. He also directed that Zahnoj should have no contact at all with the injured party.

The investigating garda agreed with Richard Liston, defending, during an earlier hearing that his client had no previous conviction for sexual offences.

Mr Liston said his client moved to Ireland from Poland 10 years ago and that he is now in a new relationship. 

Counsel said his fiancée supports him, but the garda said, “I don’t see her here today, judge.” 

 The court also heard that Zahnoj has a work history and provides assistance to his mother.