Man convicted of rape and threatening to kill in Meath
A Lithuanian national has been convicted of raping and threatening to kill a 24-year-old Latvian woman.
Virginijus Bagdonas (aged 38), with an address at Whitehalls, Oldcastle, Co Meath was not present at the Central Criminal Court to hear the jury's verdicts that it had found him guilty of rape, false imprisonment and threatening to kill her at places in Meath and Cavan on the night of March 11, 2006.
Mr Justice Barry White told the jury that when Bagdonas failed to appear on the second day of his trial, he had exercised his discretion as trial judge to continue the hearing in his absence.
Mr Justice White said he did this because the complainant had concluded her evidence and was coming towards the end of her cross-examination and to stop the trial at that point would have been unfair to her.
"Its rare that a jury finds itself determining a case in the absence of the accused but he absconded and now can only be sentenced if and when he is apprehended on foot of the bench warrant I have issued for his arrest," Mr Justice White said. "Until then, the matter must remain in limbo."
He directed that Bagdonas be registered as a sex offender and exempted the jury from further service for seven years unless any member wished to answer a jury summons in that time. The jury of nine men and three women returned its unanimous guilty verdicts in just over two hours following a six-day trial.
Bagdonas had first failed to appear on day-two of the trial, Tuesday November 27 last and the jury were not told at that stage. He failed to appear again the following day and again the jury weren't told.
Legal issues arising from the situation were debated between Mr Justice White and counsel for both sides: Mr Gerald Clarke SC (with Ms Anne-Marie Lawlor BL), prosecuting, and Mr Brendan Grehan SC (with Ms Miriam Reilly BL) for the defence. Mr Grehan said he could follow instructions he had got from Bagdonas.
Mr Justice White told the jury on Thursday, November 29th, that phone calls were received the previous day by a court interpreter from Bagdonas and there was a suggestion that he had been in some form of accident. However, gardai had confirmed he hadn't been admitted to any hospital in Dublin or on the route to Meath.
Mr Justice White warned the jury that it should not take any inference against Bagdonas from the fact that he had not appeared as he was still entitled at that time to a presumption of innocence.
The complainant said her night of terror happened after she agreed to accompany Bagdonas to a party in Cavan because he said he wanted to apologise to her for his phone calls harassment of her over several weeks.
She told Mr Clarke that he claimed acquaintances of her's would be there but she found she knew nobody. She drank only one bottle of WKD because she had a headache and had to go to work early the next morning.
Bagdonas offered to drive her home when she told him at around 10 pm that she wanted to leave but after a short distance she realised they were going the wrong way. He told her he was taking a short cut and as she didn't know the area she didn't argue.
He drove to Lough Ramor where he raped her in his car after trying to get her to drink Smirnoff Ice with him.
Bagdonas then drove her to his house in Oldcastle where he forced her to undress and get into his bed. She escaped in her stocking feet when he fell asleep and met a garda to whom she made her rape complaint.
Bagdonas told gardaí they had consensual sex and that she stole his rent money before leaving his house.
