Kerry rapist is ‘a threat to society’

A KERRY rapist, who a judge described as too dangerous to be free, has been jailed for 15 years.

Richard O’Brien (57) with an address at Arlington Lodge, Tralee, lured his victim – a grandmother – to a caravan in Dublin before raping her, assaulting her and biting her during a sustained and vicious attack on March 19, 2011.

At a sentencing hearing last month Mr Justice Tony Hunt had Mr O’Brien removed from court after he repeatedly interrupted proceedings, calling his victim a “filthy prostitute”.

At a second sentencing hearing on Monday Mr Justice Hunt said that the harm done by Mr O’Brien to the victim was “very, very great indeed” with “long term if not permanent damage”.

He said that Mr O’Brien had identified her on the night as someone who was a vulnerable person. He had used deception by telling her there was a party while in reality he was bringing her to an isolated caravan.

He said he was tempted to impose a life sentence so that Mr O’Brien would be kept away from the public until the executive determines it would be safe for him to be released.

He said Mr O’Brien was “a very serious threat indeed” but the case fell just short of one where a life sentence was warranted.

Imposing a 15 year prison term, Mr Justice Hunt said Mr O’Brien will be in jail for a large part of his remaining life.

“That’s his fault. He needs to be removed from society until it’s safe for him to return,” he said, adding that he was giving some allowance due to O’Brien’s age and medical issues. He backdated the sentence to August.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, the woman said she has had nightmares every night for the last five years. She said the attack led to the breakdown of her 23-year relationship and she had suicidal thoughts. She said her relationship with her children and grandchildren has suffered as a result.

“For the last five years of my life I have been existing, not living,” she said.

Mr O’Brien left school at the age of 15 and worked in the UK as a labourer and truck driver. He has been married twice and has seven children, but is estranged from his family the court heard

At Monday’s hearing Mr O’Brien’s Barrister, Damien Colgan, said he had been instructed by his client to offer an unreserved apology to the court and to the victim for outbursts during his previous appearance in November.

Mr Justice Hunt had heard that the victim, who cannot be named, was having birthday drinks with friends in a Dublin pub when Mr O’Brien offered to buy her a drink. He then invited her back to a house party, telling her it was his sister’s birthday.

However, when the woman arrived at the home she became uneasy and asked to get a taxi home. Mr O’Brien invited her into a caravan at the back of the property on the pretext of ordering her a cab, but once inside he told her, “There’s no effing sister and there’s no effing taxi either”.

He then pushed her on to the bed, punched her repeatedly, bit her on the chest and neck and raped her. The woman fainted at one point during the attack, which went on for some time, the court heard.

It ended only after two men entered the caravan and stopped O’Brien. The woman fled the scene and was picked up by a couple in a car who took her to a garda station. She was then taken to a sexual assault treatment unit.