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A 52-year-old man became obsessed with a woman and went on to harass and threaten to rape her, but was caught in a Garda surveillance operation as he was about to break into her home to carry out his threats.
James Steele of Reavilleen, Roscarberry, County Cork, was sentenced to seven years and the last two years suspended today in Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
Steele apologized to victim Una Ring. He pleaded guilty to trying to break in to commit a rape at his home in Youghal, where he lives with his adult son and daughter.
Lead defense attorney Tom Creed said of the defendant: “I could only attribute it to obsession.”
Steele had left black letter envelopes on his car’s windshield on previous occasions, where he had spelled out in horrifying detail his threats to rape her.
On another occasion, he painted all four tires on his car pink.
Sergeant John Sharkey said Garda James Heffernan was on duty at the development in the early hours of July 27 when he saw the defendant arrive in the area, hiding behind a parked van and then walking toward the victim’s home.
He was masked with a hat and a net. He had orange string and duct tape in his pockets. It had a metal lever. He had a dildo or a prosthetic penis tied to himself inside his pants.
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin described the crime as dramatic and horrific when he imprisoned Steele and ordered him not to have contact of any kind with the victim and his family, “indeed, never again.”
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