A WOMAN choked and raped by her partner who told her ‘I will f*** you up once you pass out’ says she will ‘never trust again’.
She and her daughter moved into emergency accommodation because she was too afraid to stay in her home where the attack took place.
Christopher Ryan (33), originally from Thurles Co Tipperary, but with an address at Rosedale, Derrigra, Ballineen, Cork, pleaded guilty to rape, sexual assault, assault causing harm and criminal damage on November 11th 2023.
He was jailed for ten and a half years by Justice Mary Ellen Ring at the Central Criminal Court.
Marc Thompson BL prosecuting told the court that the woman, Kerrie Keane, wished to waive her right to anonymity so that Ryan could be named.
Ryan strangled Ms Keane during the assault and repeatedly told her he was going to rape her and there was nothing she could do about it.
She later told gardaí that she had fought him off, biting him and kicking him but she then grew too tired from fighting and ‘gave up’.
Ms Keane called emergency services after the attack and left her home that day to seek safety in a women’s refuge.
Her daughter was not at the home at the time of the rape.
In her victim impact statement Ms Keane said: ‘This has been so unfair on me and my daughter. I have no stability since it happened.’ She added that she ‘feels like there is no end in sight’.
She said she still has random nightmares and days when she is frozen with depression.
‘I wake up anxious and sad every day – everything is so unstable and out of my control. I truly loved this man. I will never trust again. I never want to. I will always have a deep sadness. I will never forget the fear and betrayal.’
Garda Sharon Noonan told the court that the couple met on a dating app in 2021 and visited each other most weeks.
On the night of the attack Ms Keane arrived home from work, they had a takeaway together and she had a glass of vodka. She fell asleep later around midnight and woke up to Ryan cuddling, kissing and pulling at her.
She later told garda that she said ‘no’ but he said he ‘wanted to do it’. He put her on to her back and held down her arms before he threatened to choke her. ‘I will f*** you up once you pass out,’ he said.
Ryan was arrested four days later. When questioned by gardaí he said he had drank six cans of beer, took a tablet and also drank vodka that night.
Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring told Ms Keane to ‘hold your head high, knowing you have defended yourself and your daughter’.
She said the attack represented one of the ‘deepest breaches of trust in life’ to be treated like that by one’s partner.
