A man convicted of the rape and manslaughter of beautician Rachel Kiely in Ballincollig in Co Cork in 2000 has been sentenced to 12 months in prison for breaching the Sex Offenders Act by going on the dating app Tinder under an alias, and for failing to notify gardaí of a change of address.
38-year-old Ian Horgan, who is originally from Ballincollig in Co Cork, but with an address in Macroom, appeared before Macroom District Court today where he pleaded guilty to a charge of applying to open an account on the Tinder dating app between 24 May and 31 May last year in contravention of the Sex Offenders Act 2011.
Horgan also pleaded guilty to failing to notify gardaí of a change of address as he is also obliged to do under the Sex Offenders Act following his conviction for the rape of Rachel Kiely.
Horgan's solicitor Sean Cahill said his client had always maintained that the use of the name 'Cian' was a typing error and not the creation of an alias.
But Judge James McNulty said that he committed an offence when using a name that was not his true name without notifying gardaí.
"This is one of the burdens you carry through life, where upon conviction, a court directs you to comply with the terms of the Sex Offenders Act and Mr Horgan will be well acquainted with his obligations in that regard," Judge McNulty said.
"He has breached them in a manner which constitutes an offence."
Judge McNulty said, when sentencing, he had to take into account the "possibility, indeed the likelihood, that some innocent man or woman viewing the Tinder dating website might have been misled as to the reality of the person appearing on screen and assume he was a man of good character and with no convictions.
"The reality would be quite different," the Judge said.
He sentenced Horgan to six months in prison for using a name that was not his true name without notifying gardaí, and sentenced him to a further six months for failing to notify gardaí of a change of address.
Both sentences are to run consecutively with effect from today.
Recognizances were fixed in the event of an appeal.
