Ireland

Waterford man who raped girlfriend and her mother handed eight life sentences

A 48-year-old man from Waterford has been jailed for life for raping his girlfriend and her mother
A 48-year-old man from Waterford has been jailed for life for raping his girlfriend and her mother A 48-year-old man from Waterford has been jailed for life for raping his girlfriend and her mother

A MAN who repeatedly raped his girlfriend and her 60-year-old mother has been imprisoned for life after a judge said it was the worst case he had ever encountered.

The 48-year-old from Waterford had pleaded guilty to rape, false imprisonment, attempted rape, aggravated burglary, making threats to kill and aggravated sexual assault at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy handed the father-of-four, who is not being named to protect the victims' identity, eight concurrent life sentences on Tuesday.

When the rapes took place over three days in Dublin in July last year, the man was on bail for kidnapping and seriously assaulting the same girlfriend the previous year.

The horrific ordeal began on July 2 when the man became violent towards his girlfriend during sex and then raped her.

The following day, he locked her in a bathroom at a hostel and repeatedly raped, abused and threatened her.

His girlfriend eventually fled to a friend's house.

The next day the man broke into his girlfriend's mother's home, threatened her with a Stanley knife, tied her up and subjected her to a violent physical and sexual attack for almost three hours.

He threatened to slit the woman's throat and said he was waiting for her daughter to come home so he could attack her. The woman passed out several times during the ordeal.

During the lengthy assault the man also repeatedly phoned his girlfriend. When the calls were not answered, he left a voicemail in which her mother could be heard in the background.

The woman contacted gardaí when she heard the voicemail.

The court was told the 60-year-old woman has been left "unbelievably traumatised" and feels like a prisoner in her own home.

Her daughter described the attack as "a night of horror" and said her mental health has also been affected.