Post by Wasp on Dec 19, 2009 17:22:56 GMT
Priest backs sex fiend
"Not an abusive bone in his body" he says of bouncer jailed for seven years
Irish Daily Mail By Mlchelle Flemlng
Thursday December 17, 2009
A PARISH priest defended the character of a bouncer convicted of sexual assault and sat among an 80-strong crowd of supporters in court as the man was sentenced yesterday.
Screams rang out from the public gallery of Tralee Circuit Court and some people were removed as Dan Foley was jailed for seven years' with the final two suspended for a vicious attack on a then 22-year-old girl.
Fr Sean Sheehy of Castlegregory took to the witness stand to say the 6'4", 35-year-old bouncer 'had not an abusive bone in his body'.
Judge Donagh McDonagh described the victim as 'a thin waif*like lady, but more so when compared to the size and build of the accused'.
He added that it was 'unlikely she would be able to get him off her'. Gardai had come upon Foley and his victim in a car park next to Mermaid's Nightclub in Listowel, Co. Kerry, on June 15, 2008, as she lay semi - conscious.
Detective Sergeant John Heasley told how officers found Foley crouching over the unconscious woman - who was naked from the waist down - at 3.50am on a Sunday morning.
The court heard how Foley initially told gardai discovered the woman semi-naked and half*conscious near a skip, while relieving himself in the car park of the club, where he was celebrating his 34th birthday.
However, after CCTV was uncovered that showed him carrying the victim into the car park - he admitted lying because he 'panicked'.
The victim said she ran into Foley - a bouncer she knew - in the club after an evening with friends but had felt sick after taking a sip out of a Black Russian cocktail that he bought her.
He then bought her a bottle of WKD but she left the club before drinking it as she felt sick and dizzy. She admitted her memory was hazy but recalled struggling with Foley in the car park as he held her down got on top of her and tried to take her trousers off as she cried for him to stop.
Foley said his victim had suggested they 'go somewhere more private' and instigated having oral sex with him in the car park.
'She cried for him to stop'
He claimed she removed her own trousers and they had consensual sex before falling asleep. He said he was merely trying to wake the girl when gardai found him.
However, medical reports from the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit in Cork showed the victim had suffered extensive bruising, scratching, abrasions and Significant injuries to her wrists, back, and legs 'compatible with someone who was pulled or dragged along the ground'.
In her emotional victim impact statement, the single mother told how she had been ostracised by her community since the attack and some locals asked whether she was 'sorry' for destroying her attacker's life.
In an account, commended by Judge McDonagh as 'remarkably dignified', she told the court: 'Since the trial I have been feeling very restricted in where I can go around town. I feel as if people are judging me all the time and I'm being made to feel guilty all the time. I have been asked by people I know if I'm sorry about it. I am not sorry about it. I only told the truth.'
She said she had heard there was a petition going around Listowel for Foley to be released, although later, defending counsel Patrick Whym, confirmed this was a list of locals willing to testify to his client's character.
Judge McDonagh condemned Foley, whom he said had 'shown little remorse' and 'made no apology'.
He acknowledged the victim was uncertain as to the exact sequence of events, but that 'out of the fog, a number of things were clear.
'She did not want to be where she was,' he said. 'She did not want to have sex. Most tellingly, she came out from that fog saying, "Get off me" and there is no possible interpretation of these words other than she wanted him to stop.
I accept she did not take off her clothes and he divested her against her will.'
"Not an abusive bone in his body" he says of bouncer jailed for seven years
Irish Daily Mail By Mlchelle Flemlng
Thursday December 17, 2009
A PARISH priest defended the character of a bouncer convicted of sexual assault and sat among an 80-strong crowd of supporters in court as the man was sentenced yesterday.
Screams rang out from the public gallery of Tralee Circuit Court and some people were removed as Dan Foley was jailed for seven years' with the final two suspended for a vicious attack on a then 22-year-old girl.
Fr Sean Sheehy of Castlegregory took to the witness stand to say the 6'4", 35-year-old bouncer 'had not an abusive bone in his body'.
Judge Donagh McDonagh described the victim as 'a thin waif*like lady, but more so when compared to the size and build of the accused'.
He added that it was 'unlikely she would be able to get him off her'. Gardai had come upon Foley and his victim in a car park next to Mermaid's Nightclub in Listowel, Co. Kerry, on June 15, 2008, as she lay semi - conscious.
Detective Sergeant John Heasley told how officers found Foley crouching over the unconscious woman - who was naked from the waist down - at 3.50am on a Sunday morning.
The court heard how Foley initially told gardai discovered the woman semi-naked and half*conscious near a skip, while relieving himself in the car park of the club, where he was celebrating his 34th birthday.
However, after CCTV was uncovered that showed him carrying the victim into the car park - he admitted lying because he 'panicked'.
The victim said she ran into Foley - a bouncer she knew - in the club after an evening with friends but had felt sick after taking a sip out of a Black Russian cocktail that he bought her.
He then bought her a bottle of WKD but she left the club before drinking it as she felt sick and dizzy. She admitted her memory was hazy but recalled struggling with Foley in the car park as he held her down got on top of her and tried to take her trousers off as she cried for him to stop.
Foley said his victim had suggested they 'go somewhere more private' and instigated having oral sex with him in the car park.
'She cried for him to stop'
He claimed she removed her own trousers and they had consensual sex before falling asleep. He said he was merely trying to wake the girl when gardai found him.
However, medical reports from the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit in Cork showed the victim had suffered extensive bruising, scratching, abrasions and Significant injuries to her wrists, back, and legs 'compatible with someone who was pulled or dragged along the ground'.
In her emotional victim impact statement, the single mother told how she had been ostracised by her community since the attack and some locals asked whether she was 'sorry' for destroying her attacker's life.
In an account, commended by Judge McDonagh as 'remarkably dignified', she told the court: 'Since the trial I have been feeling very restricted in where I can go around town. I feel as if people are judging me all the time and I'm being made to feel guilty all the time. I have been asked by people I know if I'm sorry about it. I am not sorry about it. I only told the truth.'
She said she had heard there was a petition going around Listowel for Foley to be released, although later, defending counsel Patrick Whym, confirmed this was a list of locals willing to testify to his client's character.
Judge McDonagh condemned Foley, whom he said had 'shown little remorse' and 'made no apology'.
He acknowledged the victim was uncertain as to the exact sequence of events, but that 'out of the fog, a number of things were clear.
'She did not want to be where she was,' he said. 'She did not want to have sex. Most tellingly, she came out from that fog saying, "Get off me" and there is no possible interpretation of these words other than she wanted him to stop.
I accept she did not take off her clothes and he divested her against her will.'
