A man who sexually assaulted a woman five months after serving a ten-year jail term for raping another woman, has been sentenced to life in prison by the Central Criminal Court.
Gerard Kelly, 45, of no fixed abode, admitted sexually assaulting the 22-year-old victim on 17 September 2004.
He accosted the woman as she was walking alone near waste ground in south Dublin.
She had earlier been out socialising with friends after finishing work at a shop in the area.
It is understood Kelly subjected his victim to a number of sexual assaults over a period of 70 minutes.
During the attack he forced the woman to drink a can of beer, and damaged two of her teeth by pushing a beer can against her mouth.
After the attack, the court heard Kelly began to cry, apologised and gave the woman back her mobile phone and money.
He was later arrested after detectives noticed the attack bore similarities to a rape he had committed in the late 1990s.
Detective Sergeant Tom Forsy told the court that Kelly had been jailed for ten years in November 1999 after being convicted of raping a woman. He had been released from prison in April 2004.
The court also heard that Kelly was previously jailed for eight years in Coventry in England for rape and aggravated burglary.
His barrister told the court that Kelly was a member of the Travelling community, but had been ostracised from that community.
