A convicted criminal and “social deviant” who raped his aunt in her Cork home after threatening to kill her has been jailed for 15 years at the Central Criminal Court.
Colm Kelly (32), originally from Davitt Park, Ballybrack, Dublin but with address at Came Point, Castletownbere, Co Cork, had pleaded not guilty to rape, oral rape, two charges of sexual assault and one of false imprisonment on August 25th, 2010.
A jury found him guilty on all counts after 2½ hours of deliberations following his trial earlier this month.
His 55-year-old aunt waived her right to anonymity so her nephew could be named.
In her victim impact statement, she asked that Kelly be banned from Co Cork following his release, as she was afraid he would “come back and get me.”
Following the sentence hearing she simply commented that justice had been done.
She described her nephew as an “evil monster” who should be “locked up and the key thrown away.” She said her life had been a living hell since the ordeal, as she suffers from nightly flashbacks and panic attacks and cannot spend a night in her house on her own.
The mother of two said nobody would ever understand the shame she felt as her family sat in court and listened to what she had gone through.
Mr Justice Paul Carney described the way in which Kelly ran his defence as “the most despicable and dishonourable I have seen in my 20 years in this court”.
He said Kelly had claimed that his aunt had been “the sexual predator” and instigated the encounter.
Mr Justice Carney said the jury had decisively rejected that claim and returned “a rapid verdict”.
He said the inherent gravity of the offence, the effect on the victim, the breach of trust, the fact he had used a knife and the conduct of his defence warranted a 15 year sentence.
Mr Justice Carney said he saw nothing significant in favour of the accused to allow any discount on that and ordered that he undergo 10 years post-release supervision before he registered Kelly as a sex offender.