A Westmeath man has been jailed for ten years for raping a teenage girl near her home four years ago.
The man, who can’t be named to protect her identity, was found guilty at the Central Criminal Court earlier this month.
The victim, who’s now 18, took to the stand during the 17 day trial and said she’d met the man while walking to her friend’s house.
It was June 3rd 2011 and she was planning to go to a teenage disco that evening.
She said she vaguely knew him from around and was persuaded to go into a field with him.
She said he was friendly enough until they went into the field where he started screaming at her before raping her.
During Garda questioning, the man denied knowing the girl and said he’d never met her. He maintained he was telling the truth even after his semen was later found on her underwear.
Through his lawyers, the 24-year-old man eventually admitted having sex with her but said it was consensual, an allegation she denied on several occasions during a grueling cross-examination that lasted two and a half days.
It took the jury under two hours to find the man guilty and Mr. Justice Carroll Moran today sentenced him to 12 years in jail with the final two suspended.
