Circuit Criminal Court Judge, Mr. Justice Paul McDermott handed down a combined total of 37-years in jail to three men in two separate rape trials today.
41-year-old Moldovan Mihail Ciorici was sentenced to 11 years in jail for the rape of a young student in Cork who was found partially clothed, covered in cuts and bruises, and in a critical hypothermic state after the ‘callous’ attack.
The young woman, who was highly intoxicated at the time, tried to get a taxi back to the AirBnB she was staying at in Fermoy, Co. Cork after a night out in the area.
Ciorici, who the court heard that just had sexual relations with his girlfriend in a nearby wooded area noticed the woman while his girlfriend was with him in the car and said that he would pick her up.
After getting the victim into his car he dropped his girlfriend home before going back to the same wooded area where he got out of the car and raped the intoxicated woman.
Gardaí believe the victim, who was found wearing only a hoodie and a sock, managed to run away from him and was found in an abandoned house after 8am the following morning.
Ciorici, who is a married man, admitted to Gardaí that he had orally and vaginally raped the woman, but claimed that she had hugged him at one stage on the evening of the assault.
Sentencing Judge Mr. Justice Paul McDermott said that the rape had been “callous” and that it was “no thanks” to Ciorici that the victim had survived.
The court heard that on the night of the assault the victim had sent SnapChat messages to her friends begging for help leading them to contact Gardaí when they discovered she was not at the AirBnB.
She sent messages saying, “Help me now…oh my God help me.”
Ciorici, who has several previous convictions in relation to drunk driving, and theft in Ireland as well as a conviction in Moldova for the assault and false imprisonment of a teenager who stole his phone.
Mr. Justice McDermott sentenced him to 11-years in jail.
Mr. Justice McDermott sentenced two men to a combined 26 years in jail for the gang rape of a then 16-year-old girl who had gone to meet one of the attacker after he had called her saying he was going to take his own life.
Patrick ‘PJ’ Kelly, 22, and Joseph Byrne, 44 were sentenced to 13-and-half years with the final two suspended, and 15 years respectively.
Kelly, who was the victim’s neighbour, told the girl that he intended to take his own life leading her to go to his house, however she said that she was not aware that Byrne would also be there and had no idea what would happen to her over the next 24hrs.
The court heard the victim – who is now 21 years of age – describe via video link how she was treated “like a rag doll” by the men who raped her
Mr. Justice McDermott described how the victim was subjected “a continuum of sexual abuse over an extensive period” where she was repeatedly raped and orally raped, with one incident of anal rape also having taken place.
Justice McDermott said that the two men had attacked the “vulnerable” teen at the same time and that they had encouraged each other during their abuse of the girl whose victim impact statement included details of how Kelly had told her that he shared “all his girls with Joe”.
The girl was raped in several locations over a 24hr period including inside a car and in a field.
The court heard that after the ordeal the girl had difficulty telling her family what had happened and had scrubbed her skin so hard in the shower in efforts to get the “smell” of the attackers off her that she had bled.
Patrick Kelly, of Corra Choill Park, Prosperous, Co Kildare pleaded guilty to three counts of rape of the girl after video of her Garda interview was played before a jury at the Central Criminal Court.
However Joseph Byrne, who also has an address atCorra Choill Park in Prosperous, Co. Kildare maintained his innocence before being convicted by a jury of two counts of rape.