A 46-year-old Sligo man has been sentenced to six years by the Central Criminal Court for raping his wife. He was found guilty in July of this year of raping his wife at their home in Sligo in July 1997 in the first ever such conviction in the Republic.
His wife had given birth seven weeks earlier and the baby was at the end of the bed when the rape happened.
Mr Justice Paul Carney said the court must reject the man's 'backwoods man' views in relation to his entitlements as a husband. He said the law had changed in 1993 and the position taken by the accused was not anymore tolerated by the will of the Irish people.
The judge said that according to the probation report the man was still in total denial and he had made a lot of patronising remarks about his wife, saying he bore her no grudge.
