A Monaghan man who raped a teenager after meeting him for the first time and convincing him to stay in his home overnight has been jailed for four years. Shane McGovern (31) saw that then 18-year-old was having a dispute outside a bar when he approached him. He later offered him a place to stay. The victim went back to McGovern's home where it was decided they would share a bed together. He went to bed fully clothed but woke a short time later to find McGovern raping him. He pretended to be asleep but after a few moments, he pretended to wake up.
He said he needed to go home and McGovern gave him a jumper as it was a cold night. The teenager immediately reported the rape to the gardaí. McGovern, of Mullaghmatt, Monaghan, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to a charge of anal rape at his home on May 20, 2022. In a victim impact statement read into the record by Eilis Brennan SC prosecuting, the victim said in the aftermath of the rape: "I wanted to lock myself in a room and never come out". Sentencing McGovern yesterday Mr Justice Paul McDermott said it was important to recognise that it would not have been easy for the young man to take himself to a garda station. "It shows character and an understanding that it had to be done and an insight that what happened was wrong and needed to be addressed," the judge continued.
Justice McDermott set a headline sentence of seven years and six months before he took into account the early guilty plea in the case which he said allowed for "significant mitigation". He acknowledged that McGovern had difficulties growing up, had been diagnosed as having a mild intellectual disability. The judge took into account that McGovern also tends to experience episodes of impulsivity which is exasperated by taking alcohol. Mr Justice McDermott sentenced McGovern to five years in prison. He suspended the final 12 months of the term on condition that he engage with the Probation Service for two years and undertake any programmes they deem necessary.
