'C' case victim: Rapist ruined my life
17/07/2009 - 14:21:28A young woman forced to have an abortion after being viciously attacked by a serial rapist today told how she has been left serving a life sentence.
The now 25-year-old, who was at the centre of the controversial 'C' case in the 1990s, said she still has nightmares over the brutal assault that happened when she was just 13.
Her attacker – Simon McGinley – was jailed for 21 years on Wednesday for raping an 86-year-old pensioner in her home last year.
In an emotional public interview, Miss C, who cannot be named to protect her privacy, said she and her family had been destroyed and that her father had taken his own life.
“He (McGinley) ruined my life,” she said.
“My life is destroyed. I can’t go out there and meet a fella. I don’t go outside the door.”
Miss C was only 13 when she baby-sat for McGinley and his wife at their home in a Dublin suburb in August 1997.
As he drove her home, he abducted her, beat her up and violently raped her which resulted in a pregnancy.
The traumatised teenager’s plight hit the headlines when a legal row erupted over whether she could travel to England for a termination against her parents wishes.
Eventually she did, but Miss C got death a certificate for the baby and named her Shannon.
She claimed she would not have kept the baby if she did not have an abortion, but would have put it up for adoption.
The now mother-of-one said she lives with the aftermath of the horrific attack every day and is still receiving threatening phone calls.
She revealed she had attempted to take her own life on several occasions.
“No one understands how you feel, a rape victim feels after being raped,” continued Miss C.
“It never goes away no matter how people say it does. You live with it constantly.
“It’s everything that goes along with it, the nightmares the whole lot.”
Miss C said she felt shocked when she heard McGinley, who served five years of a 12 year sentence for her attack, had raped a defenceless pensioner.
“I was shocked. I just started roaring and crying,” she said.
“My whole body just went into shock that he could do that to an 86-year-old woman.
“It was going through my head what he was doing to me, then picturing what he did to her, the same thing.”
The brave rape victim said she felt compelled to go to Dublin’s Central Criminal Court to see 36-year-old McGinley, of Latlorcan Court, Monaghan, one last time before he was sent to jail.
She said she felt like she wanted to vomit when he proclaimed his innocence when being led away from the court.
“Hopefully please God I will get over it,” she told RTÉ radio.
“I will get over it eventually. But it’s going to take time and help.”
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