Midlands gang rape sentencing ‘sends message this cannot happen’

Combined prison terms of 66 years handed down to five men convicted in the Midlands gang rape trial have been welcomed as a strong message to perpetrators of sexual crime.

Noeline Blackwell, chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC), noted the “level of outrage” in the trial judge who had showed “determination to ensure that the word went out that this cannot happen”.

Ms Justice Tara Burns said the men, who were aged between 17 and 19 at the time, “behaved like animals” on the night of December 27th, 2016.

She said that in this case, “the gang rape was accompanied by filming” where a “gang of men” stood around outside a car in which a young woman was being violated.

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“This depravity is absolutely shocking,” she told the Central Criminal Court on Thursday.

The attacks happened on the night of St Stephen’s Day going into the following morning. The victim and her friends had gone into Tullamore town in Co Offaly to celebrate the night.

Ms Blackwell said: “Our judicial system, our legal system is saying: this we regard as amongst the most outrageous, the most harrowing, the most violent and the most vicious of rapes perpetrated on a vulnerable child, in the eyes of the law.

“And the sentence handed down is sending out a strong message that this is intolerable, that it is entirely unacceptable. And it’s sending out a message to every single person in this land that this is the sentence you can expect.”

Concern was expressed, however, over the 5½-year wait for justice. Ms Blackwell noted that in such prolonged circumstances a victim must remember every single detail of what had happened for the duration. In the view of the DRCC, she said, because healing is impossible until a trial has concluded, the aim should be to dispose of cases within 12-18 months of an assault.

“So much turns on the recollection and the account of the complainant and the accused.”

There were similar sentiments from Dr Clíona Saidléar, executive director of the Rape Crisis Network Ireland, who said the sentences were strong, individually and collectively. She also praised how the trial had dealt with the issue of consent and that the defendants had not been believed.

“The onus was on them and they were found not to be credible, in that it wasn’t put back on her and her behaviour,” Ms Saidléar said.

“She wasn’t scrutinised for blame or culpability in the crime committed against her. There was real clarity on that, that the victim wasn’t blamed here.

“That gives us hope that there is cultural change happening alongside the legislative change [in sexual assault trials] and there’s a real sense of deeper understanding of both perpetration and trauma.”

Former chair of the National Women’s Council of Ireland Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop also criticised the length of time it took to get justice, describing it as “absolutely unacceptable”. She called for more judges to be appointed “to all the courts”.

The victim told the court on Monday that she still blamed herself for the “stupid” decision to get into a car with the teenagers, but Ms Justice Burns told the woman that “she wasn’t stupid or naive,” and that it was reasonable for her to assume that boys her own age from the local area would get her home safely.

“She was entitled to assume that society works in a civilised fashion. Little did she know that she had gotten into a car with people devoid of respect for her or for themselves.”

Gabriel Gomes Da Rocha (24), of Mount Armstrong, Rahan, Tullamore, who had raped the teenager twice, was sentenced to 20 years. Marcos Vinicius De Silva Umbelino (22), of Riverview, Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, was sentenced to 15 years, and Ferreira Filho (24), of Riverview, Kilbeggan, to 18 years. Ethan Nikolaou (23), of Brosna Park, Kilbeggan, was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for sexual assault carried out in the context of the gang rapes. The judge suspended the final year of all these sentences.

Conor Byrne (24), of Ballybeg, Moate, Co Westmeath, was sentenced to 12 years with the final two years suspended, taking into consideration the fact that he had pleaded guilty to rape rather than go to trial.