Galway Bay fm newsroom - A Moycullen man has been sentenced to 4 years in prison for threatening to rape and kill a woman he met in a nightclub.
31-year-old Raymond Stewart of Drumaveg, Moycullen, threw the woman to the ground in a laneway in the early hours of the morning and told her he was going to rape her and kill her afterwards.
The Central Criminal Court heard the woman had earlier gone to Stewart's house believing friends would be there.
She left the house, which was in the city, on discovering there was no party.
Stewart followed her as she tried to leave the area, repeatedly kicking and pushing her.
He grabbed her at the laneway and threw her down, before Stewart's then house-mate came “out of the blue” and dragged him off.
She thanked this man in her victim impact statement, saying she believed he had saved her that night.
Stewart pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to making a threat to kill and sexually assault the woman at Sandy Road, Galway on July 18th, 2016.
Stewart, who has nine previous convictions, is currently serving a two year sentence for the assault causing harm and false imprisonment of another woman in February 2017.
He also has a conviction for the assault of a former partner, as well as public order offences.
Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha Senior Defence Counsel, handed a letter from Stewart into court in which his client said he took full responsibility for his actions that night and said he was deeply ashamed and embarrassed by what he had done.
Justice Paul Butler said Stewart clearly had a difficulty with violence towards women which had not been properly addressed.
He imposed concurrent sentences totalling four years, giving credit for time Stewart has spent in custody.
