A 24-year-old man who broke into a woman's home and raped her while she was in a deep sleep has been jailed for nine years.
Kamal Kumar Nepali, of Beech Park, Balincollig, Cork, was described as a predator who entered a number of homes on the same night looking for vulnerable women.
He was convicted by a jury earlier this year on eight charges including rape, trespass, assault and sexual assault of the woman at a house near University College Cork on 1 March 2022.
He was also convicted of entering as as trespasser to four other properties on the same night.
Sentences of between one month and five years were imposed for the other offences which will be served at the same time.
Mr Justice Michael McGrath said Nepali had shown no remorse or regret or any empathy for his victim and did not accept the jury's verdict.
He said there were a number of aggravating factors which brought the offending into the category of more serious cases.
These included the physical violence reflected in the convictions for assault and sexual assault and the fact that it happened during a burglary.
The violation of the safety and sanctuary of the victim’s home was also an aggravating factor, along with the fact that he had earlier been told to leave by another occupant of the house.
The vulnerability of the victim was also an aggravating factor, the judge said along with the fact that the man had entered a number of other properties the same night, signifying intent and the predatory nature of the offending, Judge McGrath said.
However, given his young age and lack of previous convictions the judge said he would suspend the final year of a ten-year sentence on condition that Nepali engages with therapeutic programmes while in custody and is supervised for three years after his release.
The sentence was backdated to July 2022 when he went into custody.
The trial heard the woman awoke shortly before 7am to find a stranger in her bed and discovered she was "covered in love bites and bruises".
She had been out with friends the night before for drinks and was a heavy sleeper, especially after consuming alcohol.
The man said he had been there three weeks previously but she knew she had never met him before.
The woman became hysterical and called for her flatmate who told her a man had entered her room some hours before and she had told him to leave and believed he had left.
Det Sgt John Paul Twomey told the court that an investigation later established through CCTV that Nepali had parked his car in the area and had been trying numerous doors and had entered a number of other properties.
In one case he was confronted by two men and left but appeared to be checking properties in a "calculated and calm" manner.
He said all houses he entered were dark and he did so without permission.
Sgt Twomey said it was clear the man's intention was to go to the area and seek a vulnerable or intoxicated female to rape.
After his arrest, Nepali gave a number of different accounts to gardaí, but eventually said he was looking for a place to stay and the woman had invited him into her bedroom.
The court was told he accepts he was trespassing but does not accept the jury verdict on the rape charge.
Woman said she thought she was in the safety of her own home
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the woman said she had been asleep in what she thought was the safety of her own home until a complete stranger entered uninvited in the early hours of the morning.
She said she had "never seen, met or spoken to this person until I woke up beside him in my own bed. I was sexually assaulted and raped while I slept having drunk a significant amount of alcohol the previous night".
"I no longer felt safe in my own home. I had lived out of home since 2015 and found myself having to move back home to my parents at the age of 24," the statement said. She said she had lost her independence and love of life.
Having previously been an extroverted person with a great social life and fantastic friends and family, she said she felt her life had come to a halt.
"I was haunted by nightmares and the fear that I could never go back to the way I was. I became a shell of the person I once was, unable to speak or process the events that occurred."
The rape and sexual assault had affected her relationships with friends and family and dating, she said, adding "I don't want to be viewed as a victim although I know I am. I find myself withholding my trauma to be treated as normal".
The woman said she lost a year and a half of her life with the trial having to give numerous statements and repeated visits to hospital.
"Then I had to go to court and speak about my trauma to a courtroom of strangers and the man who had committed these crimes."
Defence Counsel John Peart told the court Nepali had been living in Ireland since the age of 15 and had done his Leaving Cert.
He had never come to the attention of gardaí before and had been working in the family business.
A number of character references were handed in to court from family, colleagues and friends.
