A woman who was raped at a house party in Co Mayo more than 10 years ago has said she finally feels “free” after the perpetrator lost his sentence appeal on Monday.
Ciara Mangan (30) spoke of the psychological stress of having to wait 22 months for the appeal to be heard.
Shane Noonan (30) was sentenced in 2023 to eight years in jail, with the final year suspended, for what the sentencing judge described as the “cold, predatory and premeditated” rape of a work colleague as she drifted in and out of consciousness on a bathroom floor.
The Court of Appeal on Monday upheld that term, after finding no error in principle in the trial judge’s original sentence.
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Ms Mangan waived her right to anonymity after Noonan pleaded guilty in 2023 at the Central Criminal Court to raping her at a house party in 2013.
Ms Mangan, from Castlebar, and Noonan, of Castlehill Park, Turlough Road, Castlebar, had been co-workers in a fast food restaurant and were both aged 18 at the time.
Speaking outside the Criminal Courts of Justice on Monday, Ms Mangan said her healing was on hold while she waited for the appeal to be decided on.
“I feel like this justice process has ended now. I thought it ended two years ago, but today it has ended,” she said.
Ms Mangan, who celebrated her 30th birthday on Saturday, said: “I feel finally free and feel like my healing is going to begin now. I deserve this today and I shouldn’t be here right now.”
Ms Mangan added that having to wait 22 months for the appeal to be heard was “torture” and “not right”.
“You’re not allowed to heal, you have to wait. The psychological stress, it’s in the back of your mind all the time,” she said.
“It’s quite frankly inhumane the way they make you wait ... Why did it take so long? Twenty-two months for him to exert his control over me from behind bars is just not good enough.”
Noonan’s original sentence hearing heard Ms Mangan felt unwell after being handed an open can of cider at a party on the night of May 10th, 2013.
Ms Mangan said Noonan made a “beeline” for her and guided her into an upstairs bathroom where he raped her.
“I was easy prey, extremely vulnerable and defenceless. My control was taken from me. I stood no chance,” she said.
Ms Mangan told the court Noonan walked out and left her alone on the floor after the assault.
“The absolute disregard for my life is unforgivable,” she said. “I was left to choke on my own vomit that night and am lucky to still be alive.”
Following the rape, Ms Mangan said she was subjected to “rape comments” and “rape songs” by colleagues in her then-workplace when the owner was absent.
Ms Mangan said she began to doubt herself “because colleagues found it funny and a source of entertainment”.
In 2023, sentencing judge Ms Justice Eileen Creedon noted a probation report outlined that Noonan accepted responsibility for the rape but said he cannot remember it, recalling events before and afterwards.
She noted Noonan was in a stable relationship with no dependents. A forensic psychological report placed him at low risk of reoffending. She said his guilty plea was the most significant mitigating factor. She also noted his apology and lack of subsequent and previous offending.
