Man gets 12 years for sick rapes of teen babysitters
George Keyes at the Central Criminal Court yesterday
George Keyes (39) took cocaine, aphetamines,cannabis, ecstasy and alcohol before attacking his victims. He then made each of them watch as he raped the other girl.
Keyes, of Waterfront Apartments, Portarlington, Co Laois, told his victims, "you're going to love it" and "it's not as if you're a virgin" as he raped them.
The Central Criminal Court yesterday heard Keyes raped one girl four times and the second victim three times in a Laois town.
Mr Justice Paul Carney sentenced him to 15 years in prison for "these outrages", but suspended the final three years.
Mitigating
He said the only mitigating factor he could find to discount from that was Keyes' early guilty plea to raping them on May 13, 2007.
The judge also directed that Keyes be registered as a sex offender and undergo five years post-release supervision.
Sergeant JJ Kirby gave evidence that the victims were babysitting for a friend when Keyes was admitted to the house, at about 1am.
One victim told gardai she thought he looked "a bit stoned". Keyes asked if he could have their phones.
She handed her phone to him, thinking that he wanted to check who she was texting, but the second girl refused.
After a struggle, he grabbed it and put both phones in his pocket.
Sgt Kirby said Keyes then locked the front door of the house and put the key in his pocket, before telling them: "Girls, I'm going to rape ye."
They thought at first he was "messing" and were sitting on the couch laughing at him, before he chillingly added: "Girls, I'm serious".
He then subjected both of his victims to a litany of horrific sex assaults before repeatedly raping them.
The court heard he told his victims: "I'm going to hang myself in the morning so I don't care if ye squeal."
After their ordeal, one of the girls telephoned her mother, who told them to get a taxi with the children they were baby-sitting. The girl's distraught mother then reported what had happened to the gardai.
Keyes was arrested 24 hours later on the road near Newbridge, Co Kildare after gardai sighted him thumbing for a lift on the side of the road.
He said he had made his way there by walking along the railway tracks.
Memory
Keyes accepted what he done but claimed to have a poor memory of what happened with the girls, which he claimed was as a result of substances, including cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis, amphetamines, as well as alcohol.
Defence counsel said that Keyes fully accepted the facts as presented and apologised "for the awfulness of his actions".
Counsel said Keyes accepted when arrested he had raped the girls and not only told the gardai he was guilty, but took steps to plead guilty in open court at the earliest available opportunity, so that the girls would not have to go through the trauma of giving evidence in court.
"He doesn't in any way attempt to justify what happened, which was completely out of character for him.
"He is extremely sorry and is very embarrassed by it."
- Tomas Mac Ruairi
