Man found guilty of rape and coercive control after Offaly trial
Accused had also denied charges of sexually assaulting and falsely imprisoning a woman
A JURY in Tullamore found an Offaly man guilty of rape and coercive control on Friday.
The 39-year-old had denied raping a woman in Offaly on three separate occasions on dates between February 8, 2018 and February 24, 2020.
He had also pleaded not guilty to a charge alleging coercive control of the woman between January 1, 2019 and July 4, 2020.
The jury also returned guilty verdicts on one count of sexually assaulting the woman in 2020; three counts of assaulting her in 2018, 2019 and 2020, causing her harm with those assaults; and one count of falsely imprisoning her in 2020.
The offences were all committed at two different locations in Co Offaly apart from one of the assaults which was committed in a foreign country.
The man was found not guilty on one further charge of false imprisonment.
Jury deliberations had begun on Thursday evening for a short period and they continued on Friday morning.
John Peart, SC, appearing for the accused man, told Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo that he believed a probation and welfare report would be of assistance for sentencing.
He also sought a prison governor's report because the man has been in custody for two years.
Mr Justice Naidoo ordered both reports and remanded the accused in custody for sentencing on October 21 next.
The charge of coercive control alleged that the accused knowingly or persistently engaged in behaviour that was controlling or coercive of the woman, and had a serious effect on her at a time she was in an intimate relationship with him.