A 62-year-old landlord and former international rower who raped one of his tenants after plying her with drink has been jailed for seven years at the Central Criminal Court.
Michael Paul O'Leary, of Four Winds, Ballyarthur, Fermoy in Co Cork, had been convicted by a jury in February.
The victim, who waived her right to anonymity so that O'Leary could be identified, said he had taken her right to a normal life and she was effectively living a life sentence.
The jury at the Central Criminal Court in Cork had deliberated for just over nine and a half hours in the case before returning a guilty verdict.
He had claimed in garda interviews and during his trial that he had acted with consent at all times, but the jury rejected his account.
The prosecution's case was that he had plied Lorita O'Donoghue with drink, re-filling her glass with brandy without asking her, until she was drunk to the point of incapacity.
This afternoon, Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford said the Director of Public Prosecutions had indicated an appropriate sentence of between seven and ten years.
She gave Michael Paul O'Leary credit for his previous good character but said there were a number of aggravating factors, including that he was the victim's landlord and that his actions were a breach of trust.
She also said it was apparent to O'Leary that Ms O'Donoghue was intoxicated.
The court was told that Michael Paul O'Leary was a rower of some repute, having rowed internationally, and that he had built up a successful construction business when he had emigrated to the US for a number of years.
"I can finally begin the long road to healing and finding a new sense of peace"
Speaking outside court today, Lorita O'Donoghue said she had struggled with feelings of shame and blame, but today the "shame and blame is on Michael Paul O'Leary".
She said she was a survivor of rape and had nothing to be "embarrassed about or ashamed of".
Ms O'Donoghue said what happened to her was wrong and she had been paying the price ever since.
"Every single aspect of my life has been much harder since this crime was perpetrated against me and I have had to find the courage and strength to reclaim my life bit by bit," she said.
She urged people to believe victims. "When you see or hear about a victim of rape, remember please, don't question or doubt them-question or doubt the perpetrator," she said.
Ms O'Donoghue said these crimes must stop and said she hoped prison sentences got "longer and harsher".
She thanked everyone involved in the case and her family and friends for their support.
"I can finally begin the long road to healing and finding a new sense of peace," she said.
Ms O'Donoghue urged other victims to come forward and said "please know that there is hope, you are strong because you survived it and you will get your life back".
In her victim impact statement to the court delivered at the end of February, Ms O'Donoghue said her memory of what O'Leary did to her continues to have a profound effect on her life.
She said her entire world had been turned upside down and her life as she knew it was over.
"What you did to me was an utter violation of my mind, my body and my soul.
"You specially created the perfect opportunity to attack me when I was at my most vulnerable.
"You disrespected and defiled me, using me as an object for your own warped sense of pleasure, showing no compassion for me as a human.
"I was numb and broken. I felt like I had died inside," she said.
Ms O'Donoghue said that as well as raping her, he had put her life at risk, exposing her to sexually transmitted infections, HIV, pregnancy and cervical cancer.
She said the day after the rape was her darkest, she wanted to die.
She said while she got the highest standard of care, the experience of going to the sexual assault clinic "was like being a corpse in a morgue and I was there because you raped me".
"I was numb and broken. I felt like I had died inside.
"As they examined me, they brushed my hair, that memory still chills me to this day," she said.
Ms O'Donoghue said that she struggled to live life normally, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, panic attacks, chest pains, nightmares and flashbacks.
"I lost my joy and lost interest in anything that made me happy before. I felt deeply saddened ... I lost myself."
She said her relationship suffered and her fiancé had to get professional therapy to get him through the last few years.
"What should have been a happy time for us a newly-engaged couple and all the happiness, hopes and dreams that brings -- it was all taken from us because of your actions," she said.
Ms O'Donoghue said life's "small pleasures like enjoying a drink was hard to overcome without feeling guilt and shame".
She spoke of living "on the edge awaiting this trial", saying she found every aspect of it "traumatising".
Though very grateful for the support from gardaí and others, she said she found her experience of the Criminal Justice System to be "devastating and cruel".
"I found the cross-examination highly humiliating. I felt my intelligence was insulted.
"I felt stupid and belittled.
"My honesty and integrity were challenged and that was hard to bear, especially with all that I had been through already.
"My underwear being shown in court and my SATU examination report being read out was another out of body experience," she said.
She said it was "devastating and distressing" to hear defendant's account "of lies" about what happened that night and "hearing you plea not guilty when we both knew the truth".
Ms O'Donoghue said his actions impacted hugely not just on herself, and her fiancé but also on their families.
"You were our landlord, so after you chose to rape me, we obviously had no home anymore, how could we stay there.
"We lost our deposit. Renting somewhere else wasn't an option. I wouldn't have felt safe in another person's property again.
"We ended up moving home to my parents. I couldn't be alone. I am so thankful that they had room for us," she said.
Ms O'Donoghue said he had taken her right to live a normal life, her freedom.
"As a victim, this is a life sentence," she said.
"As a human and as a woman I should have the free will to be in any place, at any time, wearing whatever I wear, drunk or sober without the risk of being raped.
"Your chosen actions are a direct violation of a person's autonomy and free will. My ability to choose was forcefully taken away from me, by you.
"The gruesome memory of what you did to me will never leave me.
"It has had and will continue to have a profound effect on my life. As a victim, this is a life sentence. I am looking forward to the next chapter in my life, with my husband, family and friends," Ms O'Donoghue said.
She urged other victims of sexual violence to find "your inner strength and courage" and speak out.
"Speak your truth and own it, you will be believed," she said.
In February, a jury of four women and eight men found the woman's landlord guilty of raping her on the night of 28 May 2022.
Detective Garda Rachel McGrath, of the Garda Protective Services Unit, told the court at a sentencing hearing at the end of February that during Covid-19 the young woman and her fiancé moved into accommodation rented by the defendant.
On 28 May 2022, the defendant texted her asking her to move her car for the bins and afterwards suggested they share a bottle of wine.
The victim's fiancé was away from home for the night.
Once they finished the bottle he suggested a nightcap of brandy which he topped up on a continuous basis leaving her "overwhelmed and intoxicated by the drink".
Gda McGrath said the victim remembered him leading her to a chaise longue, and collapsing into unconsciousness. She woke to find him on top of her, raping her.
She tried to remove him but without success and he only removed himself when he was finished.
Shocked at what had happened she asked him why he had done what he had done, was he trying to ruin her and her fiancé's life.
Gda McGrath said that, when interviewed, the defendant told gardaí that there was "a level of intimacy" and that it was "consensual", claiming her complaint had more to do with worries about her fiancé.
She said he told them often about "his probity".
During the trial, the prosecution argued that the defendant was the complainant's landlord and that this put her in a vulnerable position and she agreed to come over to him that evening.
He said the landlord was replenishing her glass with brandy without asking her.
Senior Counsel Conor Devally said "you plied her with drink that she did not have the capacity to hold", and she became drunk to the point of incapacity.
