Connacht Tribune
Woman woke to find man sexually assaulting her
The victim of a sexual assault has declined an offer of compensation from her attacker, telling a court she didn’t want the man’s money and didn’t think it appropriate to accept it.
Electrician, Neil Devane (35), with an address in Togher, Tuam, pleaded guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court to sexually assaulting a woman in the town on November 2, 2014.
Garda Jim Carr told the sentence hearing last week that the victim had shut the front door but left it unlocked as other members of her family were out socialising that night.
She woke up at 3am in her own bedroom to find the accused on top of her. He was naked and was trying to remove her underwear. She told him to stop and that he was hurting her but he replied: “C’mon, you know you want it.”
The woman managed to fight him off before running out of the room.
Two other people, who were in the house at the time, removed Devane from the premises.
He was subsequently interviewed by Gardaí. He denied he had sexually assaulted the woman, whom he knew through a mutual friend.
Devane told Gardaí he had been drinking in various pubs and in a local night-club before going to the house around 3am.
He denied having a key to the house and accepted he must have been there as a trespasser.
The woman chose not to be present in court. In her impact statement, which was read into evidence by Garda Carr, she said she was nervous to be alone in her home since the attack and she constantly checks the lock on the front door.
Garda Carr said the accused worked on construction sites around the country and returned home every weekend to his parents in Tuam.
Defence barrister, Geri Silke said her client was shocked and deeply ashamed when he heard the next day about what he had done.
She said he had brought €5,000 to court to offer to the woman as a token of his remorse.
Judge Rory McCabe adjourned sentence for a week so that Garda Carr could speak to the woman and gauge her attitude in relation to the offer of compensation.
Garda Carr returned to court this week and said the woman had refused to accept the money. She told him she didn’t want Devane’s money and she also thought it would be inappropriate to accept it.
Ms Silke said Devane had no previous convictions and if he had not been drinking that night he would not have gone into the house and got into the woman’s bed.
“He’s absolutely mortified about what happened and he offered the €5,000 (to the victim) as a concrete expression of his remorse,” Ms Silke said.
She added Devane was attending AA and was no longer drinking to ensure nothing like this happened again.
Judge Rory McCabe noted the maximum sentence for the offence of sexual assault was ten years.
“The circumstances are quite shocking in this case and must be of the most frightening nature, both physically and psychologically, for the victim. The appropriate sentence is six years in prison,” Judge McCabe said.
He then listed Devane’s young age, his plea, his previous good record and his parent’s dependence on him as mitigating circumstances in the case, which merited a 30% discount.
He sentenced Devane to four years in prison with the final two years suspended for five years, to act, he said, as a further incentive for the accused to continue to rehabilitate. Devane was also placed on the Sex Offender’s Register.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
