A MAN who is serving a sentence for raping a woman in Limerick City has been jailed again after he pleaded guilty to engaging in a sex act with an underage girl in Limerick.
Cristian Gogosiou (40), of Mount Kenneth Place, Courtyard, Limerick, had a four-year sentence reduced to three years and six months after he admitted one count of defilement of a child under the age of 17.
The girl, who was 15 at the time, had run away from home and was living in hotels and staying with friends.
Judge Colin Daly, at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court, said the girl came into contact with Gogosiou while she was staying in a hotel in Limerick on July 5, 2020.
“At the time, the accused knew she was only 15 years old,” Judge Daly said.
The judge said Mr Gogosiou agreed to drive the girl to one of her friend’s homes if she performed oral sex on him. Gogosiou drove them both to a carpark where the girl performed the act.
Afterwards, the girl told her mother what had happened and they both went to a Garda station to make a complaint against Gogosiou.
Judge Daly said Gogosiou “knew her young age, he knew she was vulnerable, and he took advantage of her”.
The girl wrote in a victim impact statement that her mental health and her relationships with her family and former boyfriend had suffered because of what happened.
Judge Daly said a headline sentence of four years was appropriate, which he reduced to three and half years.
The judged noted that the 40-year-old Romanian national “has a partner and a child, he has been in Ireland for 10 years, and he has a history of employment, he co-operated with Gardaí”.
Gogosiou was also added to a national register of sex offenders for an indefinite period.
Judge Daly said Gogosiou had a previous conviction last July for two counts of raping a woman, who at the time was homeless, on the streets of Limerick, in 2019.
Gogosiou, who had denied rape at his trial before the Central Criminal Court, was sentenced to 10 years with the final two years suspended after a jury found him guilty last July.
Gardaí told the trial that the victim told investigating Gardaí that her attacker took out a flick knife and threatened to “cut off her giblets” before he raped her in an alleyway.
Gogosiou, who had 37 previous convictions, did not accept the jury’s verdicts, the court heard.
