Serial rapist jailed for life
A serial rapist who sexually attacked a woman just five months after his release in 2004 from a 10-year rape sentence has been jailed for life by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court today.
Gerard Kelly, aged 45, who received the 10-year sentence in November 1999, had also been jailed in 1987 for eight years in England for rape and aggravated burglary.
He pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a woman on the night of September 17-18, 2004.
Kelly, of no fixed abode but who was residing at Moreen Avenue, Sandyford at the time, told the probation officer that he committed the crime so that he would be taken back into custody because he felt "isolated" in society and wished to return to the prison community in which he felt happier.
Kelly quickly became a suspect in this case when gardaí noted similarities to his rape of a pregnant teenager at Pearse Rovers Football Club ground, on Rochestown Avenue on November 2, 1997, just three months after his return to Ireland after his English sentence.
Detective Sergeant Tom Forsythe told prosecuting counsel, Mr Gerard Clarke SC (with Ms Martina Baxter BL) that Kelly grabbed the now-24-year-old victim while she walked to a friend’s house and pushed her onto waste ground after telling her that if she made any noise he would "slice" her.
Kelly also threatened her that if she told anyone about the incident that he would burn down her family home and gave her details to indicate he knew her address and family members.
The victim offered Kelly her phone and €70 but he replied that he wanted her body and not her money. He handed her phone and money back to her when the event ended after telling her several times he was sorry.
Mr Justice Carney said: "I have sympathy to the highly dysfunctional factors in his background but in the present case I would not be protecting the community by imposing anything less than a life sentence."
The probation officer’s report indicated that "custody doesn’t seem to be a deterrent". Kelly told the probation officer that when he drank he thought of women, meaning previous partners, who had let him down.
Mr Justice Carney noted that Kelly also told the probation officer that when he was released from the 10-year sentence he felt isolated and it was "very clear that he could not cope alone in the community".
The probation office’s report noted that Kelly had insight into his offence and was a serious risk to others in the community.
Det Sgt Forsythe told Mr Clarke that Kelly initially denied being at the scene of the crime but later said he had been there some nights previously to clean up rubbish.
Gardaí believed this claim was to cover up how his fingerprints were found on a beer can recovered at the scene. The victim told gardaí how he forced her to drink from a can and chipped two of her teeth which cost her €2,900 to have repaired, including time off work.
Det Sgt Forsythe agreed with defence counsel, Mr Brendan Grehan SC, that apart from the initial threats he told her he did not want to harm her. She told gardaí that she did not see a knife in his possession and at the end of her ordeal he handed her back her phone and money.
He further agreed with Mr Grehan that at one stage she believed he was crying before he proceeded to perform oral sex on her and gently biting her stomach. He then said again he was sorry and did not mean to hurt her before he helped her dress herself and gently pulled her up from the ground,
Det Gda Forsythe said Kelly again hugged the woman and told her again he was sorry before they parted. He is a member of the travelling community who is ostracised by the community due to his previous convictions.
He said that Kelly had been the father of a daughter in England who was accidentally drowned and had another daughter on his return to Ireland but the relationship with the mother in that case ended with his 10-year sentence. He also had a brother who was murdered and his body thrown into a river.
Mr Grehan submitted that while not minimising the offence, elements of violence which were often a feature in these cases were missing in this instance. Kelly had a tragic background and had been released following his previous sentence without any form of control or supervision.
He was under protection in custody and was unwelcome anywhere, including being unwelcome even to stay in the area where his mother lived.
"He is someone who is certainly in need of care and assistance and the probation service is not prepared to write him off," Mr Grehan said.
Mr Grehan added that Kelly had organised a letter to be written apologising to his victim saying he was sorry for his behaviour and "for all the hurt and distress I have caused you and your family".
The jury in the 1987 Rochestown Avenue case convicted Kelly after hearing how he grabbed the pregnant victim, took her into the sports ground, restrained her with her jacket and raped her.
He also stole some jewellery and her jacket from her and shortly afterwards when she thought he had left she encountered him again but he said he had only come back to return her door key and to say he was sorry.
Gardaí had seen Kelly earlier on the Kilmacud Road and a search of his caravan revealed his partner had some jewellery which Kelly had stolen from the victim. Her jacket was also found in his car.
