A LAOIS man who raped two teenage girls has been jailed for 12 years by Mr Justice Paul Carney.
George Keyes (39), Waterfront Apartments, Portarlington, who had consumed cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines, ecstasy and alcohol, made each of them watch while he raped the other girl.
Mr Justice Carney at the Central Criminal Court yesterday noted that Keyes "said the usual things to the victims such as 'you're going to love it' and 'it's not as if you're a virgin' while raping one girl four times and the second victim three times" in a Laois town.
He said he placed "these outrages" as meriting a 15-year sentence and the only mitigating factor he could find to discount from that was Keyes's early guilty plea to raping them on May 13th, 2007.
He directed that Keyes be registered as a sex offender and undergo five years of post-release supervision.
Sgt JJ Kirby told prosecuting counsel Dominic McGinn that the girls were babysitting for a friend when Keyes was admitted to the house at about 1am.
One victim told gardaí she thought he looked "a bit stoned" before he asked them if he could have their phones. She handed her phone to him, thinking he wanted to check whom she was texting, but the second girl refused. After a struggle he grabbed it and put both phones in his pocket.
Sgt Kirby said Keyes then locked the front door of the house and put the key in his pocket before telling them: "Girls, I'm going to rape ye."
Sgt Kirby said the girls telephoned their mother after the attacks and Keyes' departure. She told them to get a taxi out of the house with the children they were babysitting. Their mother then reported the rapes to gardaí.
Sgt Kirby said a search for Keyes was set in motion and he was arrested 24 hours later on the road near Newbridge, Co Kildare, by gardaí from Naas after they saw him thumbing a lift.
Keyes accepted what he had done but claimed to have a poor memory of what had happened which he said was as a result of the substances he had taken.
Blaise O'Carroll SC, defending, said Keyes fully accepted the facts as presented and apologised "for the awfulness of his actions". Mr O'Carroll said Keyes accepted when arrested that he had raped the girls and not only told gardaí he was guilty but took steps to plead guilty in court at the earliest available opportunity so that the girls would not have to go through the trauma of giving evidence.