Polish man jailed for rape of escort
A Polish man who orally raped a woman working as an escort in Dublin city centre has received a 10-year sentence with the final three years suspended.
Robert Boruncinski (aged 33), with an address at Bachelors Walk, Dublin 1, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to oral rape, aggravated burglary and burglary at an apartment complex on March 5, 2009.
Detective Garda Sheila Sheehan agreed with Ms Aileen Donnelly SC (with Mr Colm O’Briain BL), prosecuting, that Boruncinski and an accomplice armed themselves with kitchen knives and broke down the door of an apartment where two women were working as independent escorts.
Holding the women at knife point and demanding money, the two men were given €1,300, including €800 from a hiding place in the fireplace, after they stabbed one of the women in the hand and shoulder blade.
Det Gda Sheehan agreed that Boruncinksi and his accomplice demonstrated considerable knowledge of both the apartment and the activities of the women working there.
Boruncinski’s accomplice claimed that €15,000 was stored in a safe in the apartment and gave the women an ultimatum; telling them that unless they paid him €600 from their earnings each month, they would have to leave Dublin.
Det Gda Sheehan agreed that Boruncinski then told one of the women to accompany him to the bedroom where he orally raped her at knife point.
Boruncinski also asked the woman for her mobile phone number and sent her a number of text messages after he had left the apartment, including one enquiring if she would like to go to a party.
Det Gda Sheehan agreed that Boruncinski and his accomplice had broken in to the apartment of another couple living in the complex earlier that day, where they shouted at them in Polish and assaulted both the man and his partner.
She agreed that Boruncinski, who was identified by his victim following an ID parade, co-operated with gardaí in interview and identified himself on CCTV footage taken from the apartment complex on the day of the robbery.
Det Gda Sheehan agreed with Mr Hugh Harnett SC, defending, that it “seemed likely” that Boruncinski was under the influence of the other man and that he had been drinking before carrying out the attack.
Mr Hartnett told the court that Boruncinski was a “hardworking man” who began drinking and fell in with the wrong crowd having been made unemployed at the beginning of the recession.
He said Boruncinski acknowledged that drunkenness was no excuse for what he had done and that he offered his apologies to the court and to the young ladies he had assaulted.
Mr Justice Paul Carney said he took account of the involvement of a knife and the “sinister” aspect of the perpetrators' knowledge of the victims’ personal circumstances.
Mr Justice Carney said that being drunk offered “no mitigation” to one’s responsibility to society and afforded no defence to Boruncinski.
Suspending the last three years of a 10-year sentence, Mr Justice Carney said that he took in to account Boruncinski’s previous good character, his early plea of guilty and that he did not appear to be the “prime mover” in the attack.
