Man serving 8 year sentence for rape jailed for another 3.5 years after itting sex act with teen

David Raleigh

A man who is serving a sentence for raping a woman in Limerick City has been jailed again after he pleaded guilty to engaging in a sex act with an underage teenage girl in Limerick.

Cristian Gogosiou, (40), of Mount Kenneth Place, Courtyard, Limerick, had a four-year sentence reduced to three years and six months, after he itted one count of “defilement” of a child under the age of 17, at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court.

The girl, who was 15 at the time and who cannot be identified to protect her right to anonymity, had run away from home and was living in hotels and staying with friends.

Judge Colin Daly said the girl came into with Gogosiou while she was staying in a hotel in Limerick on July 5th, 2020.

“At the time, the accused knew she was only fifteen years old,” Judge Daly said.

The judge, who lifted reporting restrictions on identifying Gogosiou, said the Romanian man agreed to drive the girl to one of her friends’ homes if she performed oral sex on him.

Gogosiou drove himself and the girl to a car park where the girl performed oral sex on him, it was heard.

Afterwards, the girl told her mother what had happened, and they both went to a garda station to make a complaint against Gogosiou.

Judge Daly said: “He (Gogosiou) knew her young age, he knew she was vulnerable, and he took advantage of her.”

The girl wrote in a victim impact statement that her mental health and her relationships with her family and a former boyfriend had suffered because of what happened.

Judge Daly said that a headline sentence of four years was appropriate, which he reduced to three and a half years.

The judge said: “He is a 40-year old Romanian national, he has a partner and a child, he has been in Ireland for 10 years and he has a history of employment, he co-operated with gardaí.”

Gogosiou was also added to a national of sex offenders for an indefinite period.

Judge Daly said Gogosiou had a previous conviction last July for two counts of raping a woman, who at the time was homeless, on the streets of Limerick in 2019.

Gogosiou, who had denied rape and oral rape at his trial before the Central Criminal Court, was sentenced to ten years with the final two years suspended after a jury found him guilty on both counts last July.

Gardaí told the trial that the woman, who cannot be named to protect her right to anonymity, was struggling with addiction and homelessness at the time.

The victim told investigating gardaí that she encountered a man in Limerick city who asked her for sex in return for €6,000 and jewellery.

The woman said the man took out a flick knife and threatened to “cut off her giblets” before he raped her in an alleyway.

Gardaí pursued Gogosiou for a year and finally apprehended him in September 2020. He itted he had sex and oral sex with the woman, but he claimed the victim offered to have sex with him for money.

Gogosiou’s trial heard that during interviews with gardaí following his arrest, he had said he liked to prey on vulnerable women “because it was easy”.

Gogosiou, who had 37 previous convictions, did not accept the jury’s verdicts, the court heard.

The sentencing judge, Ms Justice Siobhan Langford, said that aggravating factors in the case included Gogosiou’s use of the knife as well as his defence that the woman had sex with him for money - a claim dismissed by the jury.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help.