Man who raped woman with bottle after Galway party jailed for nine years – The Irish Times

A man who raped a woman with a bottle after a night out has been sentenced to nine years in prison at Dublin's Central Criminal Court, with the final year suspended.

Passing sentence on Monday, Judge Tony Hunt described the crimes of Jonathan (AKA) Johnny Moran (26), of Tower View, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, as “appalling” and “incomprehensible” behaviour.

He was convicted of raping Blathnaid Raleigh, then aged 21, in Galway in July 2019.

She waived her right to anonymity to allow Moran to be named in the report on the case.

Moran played rugby with her brothers at the local Mullingar club. She was attending the Galway Arts Festival with a friend when they bumped into Moran and others from their hometown.

The rape happened after Ms Raleigh returned with Moran and other youths to the AirBnB where Moran and his friends were staying that weekend.

Moran claimed the sexual activity that night was consensual and denied using any instrument to assault Ms Raleigh. His DNA was found when he opened three plastic liquor bottles after a forensic examination of the shed.

The court heard Ms Raleigh suffered serious physical injuries which required months of treatment in the sexual assault unit.

Ms Raleigh read her victim impact statement into the record at a court hearing last month. She said she had not felt comfortable using the word rape until she “got validation from the court,” but that the conviction at trial now allowed her to use it. to use. She told Moran she was “putting shame back on him.”

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