Woman kidnapped and sexually assaulted by Limerick man tells him: ‘You won’t destroy my life’

Denis O’Donovan, 38, is today for the first time unmasked as a sex offender, after a judge lifted reporting restrictions in the case

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A woman kidnapped and sexually assaulted by a Limerick father of one, bravely faced her attacker in court and told him: “I refuse to let you destroy the rest of my life”.

Denis O’Donovan, 38, who is well known in the construction industry as a machine operator and building site grounds-worker, is today for the first time unmasked as a sex offender, after a judge lifted reporting restrictions in the case.

The victim told O’Donovan’s sentencing hearing yesterday: “He (O’Donovan) is a dangerous sexual predator and everyone should know his name.”

O’Donovan, with an address at Ballyryan, Donohill, Co Tipperary, had pleaded not guilty at his trial last April to one count of falsely imprisoning the woman, as well as three counts of sexually assaulting her, and one count of assault causing her harm, on the night of January 17, 2020. A jury at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court did not accept O’Donovan’s pleas, and convicted him on all but one alleged sexual assault.

Detective Garda Chris Cowan, Bruff Garda Station, told the sentencing hearing that O’Donovan imprisoned and sexually assaulted the victim while he was on bail for an aggravated burglary in which he used an axe to break into another woman’s house as she slept, at 2am on March 17, 2019 – for which he pleaded guilty to, and he was given a three-year suspended sentence.

The woman made her escape when she asked O’Donovan if she could get more comfortable in the car. After exiting the car “the woman was so desperate to get away she ran through briars in a ditch”. “She stayed there listening out for (O’Donovan’s) car, and she ultimately she returned to her house and made a 999 call and alerted gardai”.

The woman was medically examined at a Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU) and was found to have sustained bruising and trauma around her genitals, knee, thigh and shin; as well as scratch marks on her face and arms. Marks on the victim’s neck were “consistent with being choked”, the examination found.

The victim told Gardai that she was not expecting O’Donovan at her home, and she denied his claims made after his arrest that he had called to her home to drop cannabis there. O’Donovan was arrested on two occasions and he always denied he had sexually assaulted the woman.

The woman said she wanted to thank the Director of Public Prosecutor, for bringing the case against O’Donovan, as well as the judge and jury at O’Donovan’s trial.

The victim also thanked a female friend for supporting her and “all the guards involved in this case, in particular Garda Noelle Fitzgerald and Garda Robert Young, and especially I want to thank Detective Garda Chris Cowan for all his hard work on this case and for the kindness and compassion he has shown to me, I cannot speak highly enough of him”.

Judge Dermot Sheehan said he needed time to consider his sentence and remanded O’Donovan in continuing custody for sentence on June 7th.