Victim hopes for closure and the chance to rebuild her life

“THE day will come when I walk to the top of my hill, stand tall, lift up my arms to the sky and scream, scream for all those children and women who have been abused and who can’t cry out in despair, those who had to suffer in silence.”

These are the words of the elderly woman who was subjected to the most horrific ordeal at the hands of rapist Anthony Hussey.

In her powerful and harrowing victim impact statement the woman said the double rape had shattered her entire life.

“I lost the trust in myself and in people. I live in fear.” she said before she added that she felt danger when someone called to her home.

“My body feels like it is on constant alert. A sudden noise, if a young man with dark hair or a hood passes by, my body tenses. I have to look the other way or cross the road, focus on my breathing, telling myself I am safe,” she said.

“I still see quite often in the corner of my right eye, the slim black masked figure standing behind me. I have not managed to ignore it. I wish I was invisible.”

“I can’t stop screaming inside. My heart is bleeding with shock .... I feel ripped open stood naked to the core of my being, reduced to nothing. I feel so hollowed out. I feel so small, having been reduced to a puppet like from a Punch and Judy show. I feel gutted in the truest sense of the word,” she said in her victim impact statement.

Despite her terrible ordeal the woman – whose bravery in facing her attacker in court – was praised by Justice Patrick McCarthy – said she is determined to rebuild her life.

“I hope to get some closure today and to begin again and rebuild my life.”

She described her home as her “Irish paradise” and felt she owed to it herself to work towards reclaiming it and in an inspiring act of kindness and generosity she expressed her sympathy to Anthony Hussey’s Parents.

The Sneem community remains in a sense of numbed shock at the horrific crime that happened on their doorstep.

Before the rapes, Hussey had been a popular and well respected figure locally, working as a barman in one of the village pubs and playing for the local soccer and GAA teams.

He had never come to gardaí attention before. After the attacks he had denied raping the woman telling gardaí and friends that he had only broken into the woman’s home or that he couldn’t remember the night’s events

However, it did not take gardaí long to assemble damning evidence – including Hussey’s DNA on the fleece the woman was wearing when attacked – that proved his involvement.

Psychological and Probation reports on Mr Hussey have shed little light on why he carried out the rape. The psychological report presented to the court said Hussey was a “typical polite person” who was “warm hearted” and unlikely to harm other. The probation report also said he was at a low risk of re-offending.

Hussey admitted watching hardcore porn and visiting a prostitute but neither report found evidence of pre-existing sexual or aggressive tendencies that could offer an explanation as to what motivated his awful actions.