I THOUGHT I’D BE KILLED IN RAPE HORROR
Sicko Berkley’s threat to cut off victim’s hands
A STUDENT who endured a 21-hour rape ordeal by sex beast Eoin Berkley thought she was going to be killed, a court heard yesterday
The 18-year-old Spanish woman was tied up, drugged and assaulted after the twisted thug pounced on her in Dublin last year.
The Central Criminal Court heard Berkley, who pleaded guilty, tried to strangle her and threatened to cut her hands off.
In her victim impact statement she added: “I still wake up at night scared. The experience I went through was terrifying.”
A THUG who raped a Spanish student wrote an apology in blood on a prison cell wall, a court heard yesterday.
Eoin Berkley terrorised the teenager for 21 hours, tying her up, drugging her and assaulting her.
He also told her he had killed six people, making her believe he would murder her too.
The student finally escaped when Berkley fell asleep.
She told gardai: “I knew I would have only one real chance to escape. He had total control of my life over these days. I was terrified.”
When he was arrested and placed in a holding cell, Berkley, of Hampton Wood Way in Finglas, Dublin, wrote “I’m so sorry” in his blood on the wall.
The Central Criminal Court was told a month before the attack, a Garda detective ordered the 25-year-old’s arrest under the Mental Health Act.
However, a doctor later decided he was fit to be released.
Yesterday, Berkley admitted three counts of raping the woman at a site on Pigeon House Road in Dublin between July 15 and 16 last year. The court heard the 18-year-old student, described as naive and shy, had arrived in Ireland two weeks earlier to improve her English. She was staying with a host family in the capital.
The woman was in the city centre on a Saturday afternoon when she met Berkley, who told her he lived on the beach and invited her along.
She agreed and walked with him to a derelict site near Sandymount, where he had a number of tents pitched.
Once inside the tent his mood changed. He pushed her to the ground and grabbed her hands. The victim told him he was hurting her but he laughed, called her stupid and said he had “done this before”.
She left the tent but was dragged back in. Berkley then tied her hands behind her back with a dog leash before claiming he had killed six people and was going to kill her.
He repeatedly tried to strangle her and at one point picked up a small saw, threatening to cut off her hands if she didn’t stop struggling. When the student begged him to kill her in the least painful way, he gave her some tablets and put on a pair of black gloves. She took the pills, fell down and he began abusing her.
Over the hours that followed Berkley raped the woman on three separate occasions. On the Sunday he told her he wasn’t going to kill her until Monday.
He said he had stopped having feelings about people at the age of 10 and had cut the paws off pets.
The victim escaped when Berkley took her down to the beach and fell asleep. During her abduction, the host family in Dublin and her parents in Spain had raised the alarm.
As she fled the student rang her dad, telling him: “I’ve been kidnapped. I’m going to be killed.”
He told the court this was the worst call a father could ever get.
The trial heard medical tests found morphine, codeine and cannabis in the victim’s body after the attack. She had suffered bruising to her wrist, arms, legs and neck.
In a victim impact statement the
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woman told how she had to take medication for months after the rape in case of infections and is now scared to sleep in the dark.
She said she thinks about what happened every day, adding: “I was afraid. I did not want to be afraid.”
Mr Justice Michael White adjourned sentencing to next week. He remanded Berkley in continuing custody until Thursday, November 1.
His lawyer Michael Bowman had earlier told the court his client went into foster care at the age of four. Ten years later he was institutionalised at Ballydowd, a facility for unruly youths.
After leaving the unit he had been mostly homeless.
A month before the attack an officer directed his detention under the Mental Health Act but he was released by a doctor.
Two days later, Berkley’s brother rang gardai saying he needed to be held under the Act. Officers told him there was no basis for his detention and advised him to seek medical care.
Berkley has 25 previous convictions including unlawful possession of knives and threatening and abusive behaviour.
He had total control of my life over these days. I was terrified SPANISH STUDENT