Galway Bay fm newsroom - A man who raped a previous sexual partner after forcing access to her County Galway home in the middle of the night has been jailed for 10 years.
The court heard the woman was an alcoholic and had met the man while drinking.
The now 27-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity, was convicted by a jury, following a seven-day trial last November, of raping the 54-year-old woman outside her Co Galway home in July 2014.
He was acquitted of burglary on the same occasion.
Justice Coffey noted the accused had entered by force and that the woman had been screaming at him to leave.
He took into account mitigating factors including the man’s difficult childhood, low intellectual functioning and his relative youth.
According to the Irish Times, a 10-year sentence was handed down which was backdated to May 2016 to reflect the time the man had spent in custody.
He ordered three years of post-release supervision.
