A MAN who raped a teenager and told her “a boy has got to do what a boy has got to do” has been jailed for seven years.
Damien Long (26), of Abbeyvale, Corbally, Limerick, pinned down the then 17-year-old girl and raped her after she said she didn’t want to have sex with him.
The court heard the victim struggled with Mr Long, who told her: “I love it when you squirm.”
When she begged him to stop, he replied: “I will not stop because I am enjoying it.”
After the rape, the girl went into the bathroom and was crying. Long followed her in and asked why she was crying. When she replied it was because of what he had done, Long said: “A boy has to do what a boy has got to do when he is horny.”
The court heard that Long then locked the teenager in his bedroom, where the rape had occurred, and went for a drive with a friend. She left his home when he returned and opened the locked door.
Long had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the rape of the teenager on an unknown date in 2018. He was convicted following a trial earlier this year.
A victim impact statement delivered at a sentencing hearing earlier this year said that the woman was a happy child, doing what many young women loved to do – having an interest in clothes and make-up.
After the rape she began drinking, fighting with her family, and self harming. She has since had 23 hospital admissions due to episodes of self harm.
She said that Long was a person she thought loved her, but he destroyed her life.
Sentencing Long to eight years in prison, with the final 12 months suspended, Justice Mary Ellen Ring wished the woman well for her future. She noted that she has since managed to get on with her life despite the harm caused by Long.
Justice Ring said that rape is “an act of violence of the most invasive nature”. She said it was aggravated in this case by the degrading language used by Long, which she said illustrated the view he had of this young woman.
She also noted his “cavalier attitude to the whole sordid event”, along with the fact that he maintains his innocence and has shown no remorse for his actions.
Ms Justice Ring set a headline sentence of nine years in prison, reducing it to eight years. She suspended the final 12 months of the term on strict conditions including that Long engage with the Probation Service for 12 months.
She ordered that Long have no contact with the woman either directly or indirectly while in custody and for a period of five years upon his release from prison.
by Isabel Hayes and Eimear Dodd
