“Dangerous sexual predator” Denis O’Donovan was today jailed for seven years with the final six months suspended after being convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman.
O’Donovan, (38), a father of one, from Ballyryan, Donohill, Co Tipperary, had pleaded not guilty to five criminal offences at his trial last April.
A jury found him guilty of four offences, including one count of false imprisonment, two counts of sexual assault, one count of assault causing harm. The jury failed to reach a verdict on one alleged sexual assault.
Limerick Circuit Criminal Court heard O’Donovan drove to the woman’s house, situated in an isolated rural area of Co Limerick, on the night of January 17th, 2020, and knocked on the front door of her property.
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When the woman opened the door there was nobody there but when she went to investigate the presence of a car with its engine running and its headlights on in the front yard, O’Donovan “pulled” her into the car.
O’Donovan drove himself and the woman at speed to an isolated lay-by where he sexually assaulted her while choking her in his car.
O’Donovan “put his arm around her [the woman’s] throat and flung her between two seats, she was terrified,” Judge Dermot Sheahan said.
“She was crying and shouting and praying to God that he [O’Donovan] would stop, she said she thought she was going to die.”
Judge Sheehan said O’Donovan used “significant violence” during the sexual attack on the woman.
“He clearly impeded the victim during the sexual assaults, which occurred while he was choking the victim. The victim was terrified and that trauma has stayed with her.”
The judge said O’Donovan “restrained and choked” the victim while sexually assaulting her.
The attacks were “degrading and humiliating” for the victim, as O’Donovan “used force to restrain her as he choked her and manhandled her”.
“Terrified”, the woman eventually made her escape when O’Donovan was “repositioning himself” in the car during the attack.
The victim suffered bruising to her throat and genitals in the attacks as well as cuts and scars when she jumped into a ditch and hid from O’Donovan.
After his arrest, during Garda questioning, O’Donovan falsely claimed he only visited the house to drop off cannabis.
He was eventually charged after forensic tests resulted in his DNA being found on the woman’s clothing.
O’Donovan, who has an addiction to alcohol, had consumed five pints of stout and four cans of cider before calling to the woman’s home.
Reading a victim impact statement to the court, the woman said it had been an “absolutely terrifying, traumatising, degrading and disgusting” ordeal.
“After the attack I couldn’t eat or sleep, I used to stay awake at night listening for fear of him returning. A year after the attack, I couldn’t cope with the trauma any more. I was suicidal and was going to kill myself, I had it all planned, I had a breakdown and ended up in hospital, spending weeks in a secure mental health unit.
“I have suffered panic attacks, flashbacks and nightmares since the attack on an almost daily basis, and I became confined to home because the fear and panic was overwhelming. I changed from being a happy confident person who loved the outdoors, hiking and walking to not being able to leave my house for years.
“After all of this, for him to put me through a trial which was so daunting, as I had never been to court in my life before all of this, to have to sit and listen to his outrageous and disgusting lies, felt like another attack,” she said.
The judge lifted reporting restrictions in respect of O’Donovan on May 17th last, after the woman said she wanted people to know his name and what he had done.
“He is a dangerous sexual predator and everyone should know his name,” the woman told the judge.
O’Donovan, who had 39 previous convictions, was on bail at the time for an aggravated burglary in which he smashed his way into another woman’s house using an “axe”, and chased her upstairs, but left the house without harming her as she was not his intended target. He received a three year suspended sentence for the offence.
Judge Sheehan said O’Donovan had been hugely affected by the death of his mother when he was four years old, and his family were still prepared to support him when he gets out of prison.
After passing sentence on O’Donovan, Judge Sheahan said he must attend an alcohol rehab course to deal with his addiction.
He placed O’Donovan on the sex offenders register.
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