Three men have been jailed for terms of 15 years and 13 years for raping and sexually assaulting a young woman they met in a Dublin nightclub in August 2019 in what the judge described as a disturbing and truly shocking case.
Anthony Hickey, aged 39, from Ballyogan Square in Carrickmines, was found guilty of rape, oral rape and sexual assault, by a jury last month.
Fabio Vicente, aged 42, of Enniskerry in Co Wicklow, was convicted of two counts of rape.
Matin Zolfaghari, aged 34, from Marley Court in Rathfarnham, was found guilty of oral rape.
They had met the woman in a nightclub in Dublin's city centre and raped her in a car and in Hickey’s then home in Dundrum.
Hickey and Vicente were each sentenced to 16 years with the final year suspended while Zolfaghari was sentenced to 14 years with the final year suspended as he was convicted of only one offence.
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In his sentencing remarks, Mr Justice Paul Burns said to say the facts of the matter were disturbing was something of an understatement.
He told the victim she was not at fault for what occurred and the blame rested solely on the accused.
The judge said the woman was in a vulnerable state and the three men, acting together, took advantage of this to sexually abuse her for their own gratification.
He described the men as behaving in a cruel, cynical, depraved manner, "devoid of any semblance of human decency" and "acting on the basest of motives".
He said they were mature men, and what they did went "beyond humiliation".
The judge said there was a "dehumanising" of the young woman and a "total denial of her inherent dignity as a human being".
Rather than being remorseful, he said two of the men found callous amusement in watching videos of the attacks. In one such video the woman can be heard saying no three times.
Judge Burns said this was simultaneous sexual abuse by three men on a vulnerable woman. And he said the fact that this could happen in 2019 in "our capital city" was truly shocking.
After the sentences were imposed, friends and family of the convicted men were upset and attempted to remain in the courtroom despite being asked to leave by gardaí.
One woman shouted "they’re innocent" as they left.
