A 31-year-old former soldier has been jailed for ten years for raping a woman on multiple occasions and threatening to kill or cause her serious harm.
Niall Kennedy of Standhouse Lawns, Newbridge in Co Kildare, had denied the charges, but was found guilty of 12 counts of rape on 11 different occasions in August 2017.
He was also convicted of harassment on multiple occasions between February and August 2017 and of making threats to kill or cause serious harm to the woman, once in June 2017 and twice in August 2017.
Today, gardaí paid tribute to the woman's courage in proceeding with the case against Kennedy.
Kennedy was found to be a violent, abusive, coercive and controlling man who on numerous occasions raped, sexually demeaned and threatened to kill a young woman between June and August of 2017.
He followed her, turned up outside her work, home and when she was with her family and friends or out socialising.
He monitored her, insisting she sent photos of her location when she took her grandmother to hospital and to keep her phone on so he could hear everything when she collected a male friend at the airport, and turned up at the terminal.
He also sent an indecent image to the victim's mother.
He called the victim abusive names, physically subdued and demeaned her and forced her into sex acts against her will.
When she tried to get away from him, he made so-called "bargains and deals" for sex, which he never kept and threatened to harm her new partner. He followed her to Rathfarnham Garda Station and laughed at her when she said she went to gardaí.
"No matter what I did it was never going to be right," she said, "I could never escape."
The woman said Kennedy had turned her into "a broken person".
She had been "reduced to living in fear", she said, and was "a shell of her former self."
She said he has had "a very damaging effect" on her relationships and friends."
She also said she found it particularly stressful when he was out on bail because she "feared retaliation."
Kennedy denied the charges but was found guilty by a jury last December.
He has shown no remorse, which the victim has described as "hurtful."
However, she said, she is "no longer a victim, but a survivor."
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Mr Justice Paul Burns said today that Kennedy was emotionally illiterate, righteous and self-centred who focused on the behaviour of others as opposed to his own actions.
He said Kennedy poses "an above average risk" of reoffending and sentenced him to 12 years in prison with the final two suspended.
He also ordered Kennedy not to communicate with the woman ever again or to come within 200 metres of her location.
Mr Justice Burns said that the cross-examination of the woman in the witness box for five days, was "unduly protracted."
Following today's sentencing hearing, the senior investigating officer in the case praised the courage and bravery of the woman.
Superintendent Ian Lackey said she had been through a traumatic experience and gardaí hoped she would be able from today to start rebuilding her life.
"In my experience it is one of the most harrowing cases," he said.
He also said gardaí were there to listen, help and assist in any way they can and he asked that any other person in a similar predicament come forward and report it to An Garda Síochána.
The Defence Forces said this evening it has no comment to make on the conviction and jailing today of Kennedy.
