A Waterford businessman has been convicted of raping a woman he contacted through a Cork-based escorts agency.
Billy Keogh (46), a married man and father of six, of Wilder, Kilmeaden, was found guilty by a jury at the Central Criminal Court of raping the 26-year-old woman who claimed he told her he was a garda and also threatened to throw her out of a hotel window in Waterford.
Mr Justice Barry White directed that Keogh's name be placed on the sex offenders' register and remanded him on continuing bail for sentence later.
The jury of six men and six women had earlier found him not guilty of stealing €1,200 cash from the woman who was working for the Red Velvets Escorts Agency based in Cork.
Keogh denied both charges during his six-day trial.
Returning its 10-2 majority guilty verdict on Saturday, following six hours of deliberation and after one night in a hotel, the jury found that he raped the woman on May 21st, 2006.
He told gardaí that he was a respectable Waterford businessman and had been using the Red Velvets agency for two years to have paid sex with prostitutes assigned by it.
The Croatian victim told prosecuting counsel, Gerard Clarke SC, that she booked into the Tower Hotel in Waterford some days earlier and Keogh was one of the clients sent to her room by the Red Velvets Escort Agency.
She said he agreed to pay €150 for half an hour but that soon after he became agitated and aggressive and started to choke her.
Det Sgt David Walsh said Keogh denied all her allegations when interviewed by gardaí and claimed she only became upset when he did not pay her enough. He told gardaí he had been using Red Velvet escorts for two years.
Det Sgt Walsh said Keogh denied he put his hand on her throat or that she pleaded with him to stop and also said he never claimed he was a garda. He also denied stealing any money from her.
"I wish to add that I'm a respected businessman in Waterford city," he told Det Sgt Walsh. "I've never been in trouble with the police. I've never hurt anyone, man or woman."
Garda Sharon Dempsey told Mr Clarke that the Croatian woman was "extremely upset and in fear" when she met her and gave a detailed description of the man she said had raped her in the hotel.
Garda Dempsey said the complainant did not know the man's name but she pointed him out in a book of video still photographs made from the downloaded hotel security CCTV footage.