A Co Clare developer who was found guilty of raping a Brazilian woman, he had solicited to clean his house in Tipperary, has been sentenced to 7.5 years in jail, with the final 3.5 years of the sentence suspended, after a judge stated that he could not “buy himself out” of a custodial sentence.
The father-of-four named as Mr Thomas Egan, aged 47, of Cahermurphy, Kilmihil, Co Clare, paid over €10,000 in court, same to be forwarded to his victim, latter who has since returned to her native Brazil.
Mr Justice Barry White, noted that Mr Egan had previous to this event an“unblemished record” apart from a minor road traffic offence.
Mr Egan was originally convicted last May by a jury at the Central Criminal Court, of raping the 23-year-old woman at a house in Tipperary on July 5th 2010. Mr Egan had denied the charge of rape, but had admitted having sex with the woman, informing Gardaí that the act was consensual and that she had not shown any fear.
Mr Egan is understood to have approached the victim on a street in Gort, Co Galway and asked her to clean a house. They had travelled to the house in Tipperary in his car and he had set out a number of cleaning tasks for her to undertake.
Sexual advances then made to the victim left the woman afraid to say ‘no’ to him for fear it would make matters worse and afterwards the woman, having replaced her clothing, had asked him to drive her home. The following day, she made a complaint about the incident to Gardaí.
Defence Counsel put it to the court that the woman did not put up any resistance. He also stated that Mr Egan was prepared to offer further sums to the victim of €5,000 a year for three years, with the first payment to take place in December. The court was informed that Mr Egan would not be able to follow through on these additional payments if his circumstances were altered by his being sent to prison.
The judge directed that €50.00 given by Mr Egan to the woman, at the time of the offence, be sent to the St Vincent de Paul.
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