A man who forced a woman to have sex with him over three years by threatening her with punishment from the IRA if she refused has launched a High Court action aimed at securing his release.
Adrian Mooney (36) claims he is entitled to one third remission for good behaviour.
Mooney, of Glaskill, Screggan, Tullamore, Co Offaly, was jailed in 2008 for nine years after pleading guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 11 sample charges of rape on dates in 2005-2006. He forced his victim to have sex with him up to three times a week, the court heard.
In addition to the prison sentence, Mooney’s name was added to the register of sex offenders and he was ordered to undergo five years post-release supervision.
Mooney has brought a High Court action arguing he is entitled, under the 2007 Prison Rules, to release now.
His lawyers have written to the Minister for Justice seeking a decision whether he is entitled to one third remission but the Minister has not replied to the request. If entitled to one third remission, he would be freed now as he has served more than 66 per cent of the nine year sentence.
Colman Fitzgerald SC, for Mooney, said his client qualifies for one third remission because he has been of good behaviour, has availed of all structured activities and taken various courses available to him and has been “a model prisoner”.
Mr Justice Michael Peart granted Mooney permission to bring judicial review proceedings aimed at compelling the Minister for Justice to decide if he is entitled to one third remission of his sentence.
Leave was granted on an ex-parte basis and the judge returned the matter to later this month.
Several similar applications on behalf of other prisoners, including by convicted Real IRA man Michael McKevitt, are also pending before the courts.
When sentencing Mooney in 2008, Mr Justice Paul Carney said he regarded as "an enormously aggravating factor" the fact Mooney had not only threatened his victim that she and her family would face action from the IRA unless she had sex with him three times weekly but had also warned her, if she missed any one occasion in a week, she had to make up for that.
Mr Justice Carney said Mooney deserved a 12-year sentence but he would reduce that to nine due to various mitigating factors, including his early guilty plea, the testimony offered on his behalf by neighbours and the fact the DPP had only contended for a sentence “in the middle range”.
Mooney’s lawyers told the court he had become infatuated with the victim and had created “an incredible web of deceit” by his “Walter Mitty type of imagination”.