Niamh Ní Dhomhnaill, whose ex-boyfriend Magnus Meyer Hustveit was spared jail for raping her as she slept, has said he did not deserve credit for admitting to his crimes in an email to her.

"You wouldn't send that if you really thought there was a chance of (the case) going forward. I think it was sent without too much concern. He thought I was such a soft touch, I wouldn't do that to him," she said in an interview on The Irish Times' Roísín Meets podcast.

“It was a hard read. I’ve only read that email a handful of times, because it’s so clinical. It’s a really clinical email, it shows complete detachment,” she said.

Hustveit was sentenced by Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy to seven years in prison for raping her repeatedly in her sleep, with all seven years of the sentence suspended.

Ms Ní Dhomhnaill said it was difficult to hear her ex-boyfriend being positively described during the investigation and at his sentencing.

“I was reminded all along about what a good criminal, what a good rapist this person was.... all along I had heard, he’s been so co-operative and he’s a quiet lad and a first time offender”.

“Far too much it’s conceived as being a stranger or some kind of dodgy looking character, and you should be able to see a rapist a mile off. And that’s not the truth,” she said.

Ms Ni Dhomhnaill said it was heartening to hear people speaking openly about rape in the week since Hustveit's sentencing. "There's a lot of positives to what is not a nice situation," she said.

“I think that anyone can get over trauma. It’s a really long road. I think you’ll always bear a bit of it. The choice I’ve made for myself is that it doesn’t define me.”