A MAN from Co. Clare has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for twice raping a teenage girl at his sister’s birthday party.
Richard O’Mara, 31, pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape on October 18, 2015.
He was later convicted after a two-week trial back in April by a jury at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.
Today he was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment (with two years suspended on strict conditions) by Justice Burns who described the crime as a “vicious, horrifying attack”.
She said O’Mara used “deceit, violence and force to rape her in the field” and had then subjected the victim to an “even more vicious rape” in his family house in “a scenario that beggars belief”.
In her victim impact statement, which was read out in court, the girl said she was so afraid of seeing her attacker again that she refused to leave her room for two months following the incident.
The girl, who was a virgin at the time, said that O’Mara “robbed” her of her innocence. She said she was in great pain for weeks afterwards.
The assault took place at O’Mara’s sister’s 18th birthday party at their family home.
The victim, 17 at the time, was allegedly led by O’Mara into a field before he forced her to the ground and began raping her. Later on in the evening, after refusing to order a taxi for her to get home, O’Mara raped the victim again, this time in the house.
Afterwards he had told her not to tell anyone about what had happened.
Justice Burns stated that O’Mara showed no remorse for his actions and still maintains the rapes did not take place.
She went on to describe the victim as “a very brave young woman” and said that she could leave court with a sense of pride and her head held high for standing up for herself.
