A Co Tipperary man has been jailed for eight years for raping “a vulnerable and intoxicated” young woman in a Dublin hotel.
The Central Criminal Court heard that Dermott Brett (56), of Sweet Auburn, Carrickbeg, Carrick-on-Suir, pleaded not guilty to one count of rape at the InterContinental Hotel on January 11th, 2019. The woman was a 20-year-old university student at the time.
Brett was found guilty by a jury in May but maintains his innocence. He has one previous conviction for a road traffic matter. The court heard the victim wished for Brett to be identified.
The jury was told that the woman had been out with friends on the night but was asked to leave a Dublin pub because she was intoxicated. She went to a nearby fast-food outlet where she could be seen on CCTV footage struggling to stand upright.
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The woman’s friends hailed a taxi to take her home but she got out of the vehicle shortly afterwards, unbeknownst to her friends. She then met Brett, who claimed he was concerned for the woman’s welfare because a number of men around were showing interest in her.
The woman had no recollection of meeting Brett or getting out of the taxi. CCTV footage showed Brett and the woman arriving at the hotel and that the woman was still unable to remain upright at that point.
Passing sentence on Monday, Ms Justice Eileen Creedon said Brett claimed he had gone to the woman’s assistance and acted as a good Samaritan. She noted that Brett still maintains his innocence and claims he and the woman got naked together in the hotel room and “fooled around”. She noted that he is a married man with children and was considerably older and had more “life experience” than the woman.
“He had a number of opportunities to step back from the offending,” Ms Justice Creedon said, noting that Brett did not bring the woman to a Garda station or hail her a taxi to take her home despite his claim that he had concerns for her welfare.
“Instead, he brought her back to his hotel room,” the judge said, adding that he then “raped this vulnerable and intoxicated woman”.
She noted that he later managed to get the woman home by twice ordering her a taxi from the hotel. The first taxi driver refused to take the fare due to the woman’s level of intoxication.
In a victim impact statement read to the court by prosecuting counsel, the complainant said she had “lost a part” of herself that night and struggles knowing she will “never get it back”.
“I forget who I was before that. It’s a sad way to feel,” she said, adding that that “all my independence was taken away from me”.
She said she was “raped by someone she didn’t know”, “didn’t give consent” and was “taken advantage” of while in a “distressed and vulnerable state”. She said knowing the jury “believed my story gave me hope” and that “this person would never hurt any other person again”.
Character references from Brett’s family were handed into the court and many of his family members were present to support him. Defence counsel Coleman Cody said “any period of time in prison will be difficult for him and his family”.
“This is his first brush with the law and it has brought him in front of the Central Criminal Court which is hugely traumatic to him and his family,” he added.
Ms Justice Creedon noted that the woman has since struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder, felt the need to take a year out from college before returning to complete her studies, and has seen her mental health and relationships with others suffer.
The judge said the offence warranted a headline sentence of 10 years. She imposed a sentence of nine years, having taken into account mitigating factors including Brett’s lack of previous convictions. She suspended the final year of the sentence on strict conditions including that Brett engage with the Probation Service for a year upon his release and engage in a sex offender’s treatment programme. He was placed on the sex offenders’ register.