SEX PREDATOR JAILED
“DANGEROUS sexual predator” Denis O’Donovan was yesterday jailed for seven years with the final six months suspended after being convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman.
O’Donovan (38), a father-ofone, from Ballyryan, Donohill, Co Tipperary, had pleaded not guilty to five criminal offences at his trial last April.
However a jury found him guilty of four offences, including one count of false imprisonment, two counts of sexual assault, one count of assault causing harm. The jury failed to reach a verdict on one charge of alleged sexual assault.
Limerick Circuit Criminal Court heard O’Donovan drove to the woman’s house, situated in an isolated rural area of Co Limerick, on the night of January 17, 2020, and knocked on the front door of her property.
When the woman opened the ‘PRIME RETAIL’: The large restaurant complex right on Main Street in Blanchardstown door there was nobody there but when she went to investigate the presence of a car with it’s engine running and its headlights on in the front yard, O’Donovan “pulled” her into the car.
O’Donovan drove himself and the woman at speed to an isolated lay-by where he sexually assaulted her while choking her in his car.
Speed
He “put his arm around her (the woman’s) throat and flung her between two seats, she was terrified”, Judge Dermot Sheahan said.
“She was crying and shouting and praying to god that he (O’Donovan) would stop, she said she thought she was going to die.”
Judge Sheehan said O’Donovan used “significant violence” during the sexual attack on the woman.
“He clearly impeded the victim during the sexual assaults, which occurred while he was choking the victim. The victim was terrified and that trauma has stayed with her,” he said.
The judge said O’Donovan “restrained and choked” the victim while sexually assaulting her.
The attacks were “degrading and humiliating” for the victim, as O’Donovan “used force to restrain her as he choked her and manhandled her”.
The victim suffered bruising to her throat and private parts in the attacks as well as cuts and scars when she jumped into a ditch and hid from O’Donovan.
After the coast was clear, the woman made her way home and alerted the emergency services, who quickly responded to the scene.
BEHIND BARS: Sexual predator Denis O’Donovan