Convicted rapist jailed at Derry Crown Court

A forty-six years old convicted rapist from Dublin has been jailed for ten months at the Crown Court in Derry for failing to inform the police of his whereabouts after he was released from prison last December.

Terence Halvey of no fixed abode was placed on the Sex Offender's Register following his Central Criminal Court conviction in Dublin for rape in 2015. As part of the requirements under the S.O.R. Halvey must inform the police or his designated risk manager of his whereabouts within seventy-two hours of being released from jail.

He has six previous convictions on his record for the same offence and he committed the seventh offence on December 24 of last year.

Defence barrister Eoghan McCarthy told Judge Neil Rafferty K.C. that Halvey, who had been in custody since he was arrested for the seventh offence last January, was in a vicious circle of offending by being repeatedly sentenced to jail for committing the same offence.

He said following his release last December Halvey was afraid to report to the police at Strand Road in Derry and didn't have a mobile 'phone to contact the police nor his designated risk manager to inform them of his release and of his current address. He said between his release last December and arrest last January Halvey was living a homeless existence in Derry.

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"He is a homeless man with alcohol issues whose life is a repeating cycle over and over again in terms of arrest and imprisonment", he said.

Judge Rafferty said following Halvey's prison release following his 2015 rape conviction he was subject to the requirements of the Sex Offender's Register when in Northern Ireland.

"He is in a cycle of custody caused by failing to report to the relevant authorities in this jurisdiction. He has been in custody for this offence since January. This ten month sentence means he is likely to be released sometime in the middle of June.

Hopefully those who supervise his release will turn their attention to that imminent release in terms of locating some hostel accommodation so that he can report his whereabouts to the police and break this cycle of offending", Judge Rafferty said.