Two men originally from East Timor were today jailed for the “appalling” rape of a 19-year-old woman in an underground car park in County Tyrone.
Luis Dos Martins Mariano, 20, with an address of Sloan Street, and Alcino Soares, 21, with an address of Braeside, both in Dungannon, both pleaded guilty to rape after taking turns to rape their victim after bringing her to the carpark.
However, prior to pleading guilty, Soares had insisted that all sexual activity was consensual and that she “wanted it.” However, when his application for bail was refused in the weeks after the 2023 attack, a judge described the incident as “predatory group activity.”
Prosecutors previously claimed that the pair grinned at each other during the attack on an intoxicated and vulnerable victim in the Co Tyrone town.
At Downpatrick Crown Court on Thursday, a judge sentenced both men to six years, three of those to be served in prison and three out on licence.
MLAs have tonight criticised the sentencing as excessively lenient.
Unionist MLA for Upper Bann, Doug Beattie, said on Thursday that it was an “appalling sexual crime” and that he could not understand the sentence, which he described as being “unduly lenient.”
“This really angers me and I will be writing to the DPP to look at this as being unduly lenient,” he said.
Jon Burrows MLA, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, and MLA for North Antrim, also hit out at what he said was an “absurd” sentence.
“Six years for this evil rape and half of that to be served on licence. An absurd sentence that ought to be reviewed,” said Burrows.
The rape happened on 10 September 2023, when both the men were aged 17. The pair had moved to Northern Ireland from East Timor when they were younger.
Some of the incident had been captured on CCTV footage, with judge Richard Greene describing it as “disturbing.”
The woman had been on a night out in the town with friends before the attack in the early hours of the morning. She later contacted police.
A court previously heard how the pair approached her in the street and walked her to a nearby empty underground car park where the repeated rapes were carried out.
Crown lawyer Adrian Higgins previously told the court: “She recalls being intoxicated and stumbling into the area.”
CCTV recordings from the scene captured the woman being assisted while extremely unsteady on her feet.
The judge said that the teenage victim had been subjected to a “prolonged and humiliating ordeal,” as both men took turns to rape her. He added that taking the victim to a car park late at night showed a “significant degree of planning and foresight.”
It is understood that Mariano raped the woman “while she was drifting in and out of consciousness,” while Soares kept a lookout as the initial assault was carried out.
The court heard in 2023 that Soares then took over, moving the woman to a nearby wall where she was raped again.
“The two males can be seen interacting and smiling at each other,” counsel submitted in a High Court hearing three years ago.
It was alleged that one of them gestured for the other “to take a photo.”
The men, the court heard, were seen on CCTV “loitering” on a busy street before identifying the “intoxicated, vulnerable female” and escorting her to a secluded car park before raping her.
“The two acted in unison, one keeping an eye out while the other committed offences.”
Judge Greene said that “it should have been obvious to both of them she was intoxicated and she was less able to recognise the danger she was in, she was not capable of resisting this cowardly attack on her and she was not able to call for help.”
Police said that the attack was “appalling and deeply distressing,” and that the actions of the two men were “predatory and degrading.”
The men will now be subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention order for life, and will remain on the sex offenders register for life.
PSNI Detective Chief Inspector Steph Finlay said: “I want to pay tribute to the tremendous courage [the victim] has shown throughout what has undoubtedly been an extremely difficult and traumatic process.
“Today’s sentences hold both men accountable for their actions and I hope they provide the victim with some measure of reassurance that those responsible have been brought to justice.”