A woman who was raped by “three complete strangers” she encountered in a Dublin nightclub said the men robbed her of her freedom, her own body and her love for life, she said in a powerful victim impact statement.
The woman said the three men “watched my movements, and took advantage of me and used me and my body as if I was an object that they were entitled to”.
Anthony Hickey (39), Fabio Vicente (42) and Matin Zolfaghari (34) were convicted last month following a trial at the Central Criminal Court. They had pleaded not guilty to offences which took place in a car and in a Dublin house on August 31st, 2019.
The three men do not accept the jury’s verdict, the court heard.
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Hickey, of Ballyogan Square, Carrickmines, Dublin 18, was convicted of raping the woman in his then address in Dundrum, and of orally raping and sexually assaulting her in a car.
Vicente, of Little Newtown, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, was found guilty of raping the woman in the car and raping her in Hickey’s then home.
Zolfaghari (34), of Marley Court, Rathfarnham, Co Dublin, was convicted of the oral rape of the woman in the house. The jury found him not guilty of sexually assaulting her in the car.
Reading her statement on Monday, the woman said she had been a “young woman in my 20s who loved fun”, describing herself as “joyful, fearless and carefree”.
She said this changed after she was raped by the three men.
“Not knowing what these men looked like protected me in some ways, but for months on end I would think every man who looked at me could be them.”
She said she exists in a heightened state of fear and while she used to find the good in everyone, “you turned me into someone who thinks that everyone I meet is a threat and is capable of what you were capable of”.
She added: “You not only raped me, I found out during the trial you violated me in another way. You videoed raping me.
“You sent around these videos and laughed about me saying ‘no’. You laughed because you didn’t care and you have shown no remorse from the second you entered into these courts.”
Later in her statement, she told the men that they made a choice that night to hand her a life sentence “all for the sake of a laugh” and “because boys will be boys”.
“I don’t believe you will ever be remorseful for what you did to me,” she said, adding that “the only bit of light I have from this trauma is knowing that I brought you to justice, and that makes this world a better world for my daughter”.
Karl Finnegan SC, prosecuting, told the court that the Director of Public Prosecution’s view is that this falls into the highest category of sentencing of 15 years to life imprisonment, due to the circumstances of the case and the gravity of the offending by the three men.
Hickey has 10 previous convictions, including one for assault causing harm for which he received an 18-month prison sentence in 2013. Vicente has one previous conviction for a road traffic offence, while Zolfaghari has no previous convictions.
Before the accused men were brought into the courtroom, a large number of family members and friends were initially in court to support them.
Mr Justice Paul Burns noted that the men were entitled to some support, but the court didn’t want the victim or her family “feeling intimidated or overawed by the sheer number of people in the courtroom”.
The courtroom was then cleared, with two supporters remaining for each man.
Defence counsel asked the court to consider their clients' personal circumstances and testimonials submitted on their behalf from family members, friends, clients and others.
Remanding the three men in custody, Mr Justice Burns adjourned the case to March 27th next, when he will impose sentence.
