Two men forced way into house and raped woman

TWO WEXFORD men have been convicted by a Central Criminal Court jury of raping a Waterford mother at her home while restraining her with a rope around her neck.

John Connors (25), The Arches, Esmonde Road, Enniscorthy, pleaded not guilty to three charges of raping the victim at her home on August 31st, 2006.

His co-accused, Patrick Moorehouse, also of Esmonde Road, denied a charge of raping the woman on the same occasion.

The jury of seven men and five women took just under four hours on day eight of the trial to unanimously find Connors and Moorehouse guilty of rape.

The jurors acquitted Connors on other charges of rape and anal rape.

Mr Justice George Bermingham registered both Connors and Moorehouse as sex offenders and remanded them in custody to a sentence date next February.

The now 24-year-old woman told prosecuting counsel Thomas Creed SC, during the trial, that the two men forced their way into her home after they called to her door and asked her did she want to buy a camcorder.

Her young child was in the living room when she was pushed into a bedroom and Moorehouse punched her.

She was pushed on to the bed and piece of rope that was on the floor was wrapped around her neck. She said Connors held the rope while Moorehouse raped her and then the men swapped places and Connors raped her.

She said she did not make much noise as she was conscious of her child in the living room, who was unaware of what was happening.

She said the men dressed and left after threatening her not to tell anybody what happened.

During the trial the woman told Mr Creed that she was at home with her toddler in the afternoon when she heard a knock on her front door.

She said there was one large and one smaller man there looking to sell her a camcorder and she told them she was not interested.

The witness said the men left but she heard persistent knocking on the door about 10 or 15 minutes later.

She told her child to stay in the living room and went to answer the door. She said the large man and a different smaller man were at the door and they showed her jewellery and watches.

She said she kept saying she had no money and the large man asked her if she wanted to swap something for the camcorder.

She said she had nothing to swap and he asked if she would swap herself.

The woman said she refused and asked them to go away but the large man pushed her inside and the smaller man closed the front door behind them.

She said she was pushed into a bedroom and when she refused to take her clothes off the large man punched her in the face.

After they left, she gathered her child and went to her boyfriend's house and waited for him to come home from work.

The woman said she did not tell him what happened straight away but later wrote it down and he took her to the Garda station.