Man walked in on woman while she was in bathroom and raped her in bathtub

Sonya McLean

A man has been jailed for nine years after he walked in on a woman while she was in the bathroom and pushed her into the bathtub where he raped her.

Darius Langas (37) of Main Street, Ballinasloe, was convicted following a week-long trial at the Central Criminal Court having denied one charge of rape of the woman on August 13th, 2022.

On Thursday, Mr Justice Tony Hunt handed Langas a 10-year sentence with the final 12 months suspended on strict conditions for five years.

An investigating garda told Lorcan Staines SC, prosecuting, that the victim presented at the Garda station in the immediate aftermath of the rape.

She said she had been drinking earlier in a local park with two men, including Langas and voluntarily went back to an apartment with them where they continued to drink alcohol and take cocaine.

The woman later told gardaí that both men asked for sex and she said no to both to them.

Langas followed her into the bathroom, where he pulled at her clothes, unbuttoned his trousers and tried to force her to perform oral sex on him.

She said no and told Langas she was on her period.

He pushed her into the bathtub before raping her from behind. She was shouting and screaming at him attempting to fight him off.

The woman was able to point out the apartment she had been taken back to by gardaí and Langas was arrested.

He initially denied that he had sex with the woman and described her as “crazy. He was re-arrested after semen taken from the woman’s examination at the sexual assault treatment unit (SATU) matched his DNA.

Langas admitted having sex with the woman at this point but claimed it had been consensual.

Mr Staines said the report from the SATU outlined that the woman had extensive injuries which were consistent with her account of struggling with the accused and being struck by him.

Mr Staines said the woman, who was not in court, had prepared a victim impact statement, which he read into the record.

She said she had anxiety, depression, nightmares and panic attacks and she fears every man and “fears what they are going to do to me”.

She said it feels like “he is still part of me”… “like he broke something inside of me”.

She acknowledged that she had issues with alcohol and drugs before the rape but said her addictions have gotten worse.

“He brought me to such a darker place. I wished it never happened,” she continued.

She said she lost her children who are now in care.

“I wanted to get better for my kids but he broke me,” she said.

The woman said she would like an apology but doesn’t want to look at Langas’s face.

She said she is getting better now and has attended counselling. She said she got a dog.

“I just couldn’t cope. I got so much more used to the dark hole,” the woman said.

Bernard Madden SC, defending, said his client does not accept the verdict of the jury.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt said this was a serious offence which had had serious consequences for the woman.

Referring to her victim impact statement, the judge said she was “frank and candid” about her problems, which existed before this incident.

He said the court was satisfied that Langus made the woman's problems “much worse”, adding that the court was “delighted” to hear the woman says she is improving.

The judge set a headline sentence of 10 years. Mr Justice Hunt said there “really isn't” any mitigation noting that Langus does not accept the jury's verdict.

The judge noted the probation report states Langus “continues to deprecate” the woman's difficulties and “proposes to deceive” others in his life about why he is in prison, which the judge said is “of concern”.

Mr Justice Hunt said there was “nothing good to be said” out of the probation report, but that the court had to “allow there might be a chance of the penny dropping in time.”

The judge also placed Langus under the supervision of the Probation Service for three years post-release and backdated the sentence to when he went into custody.

Mr Justice Hunt expressed the court's hope that the woman's dog would give her pleasure and comfort. He asked gardai to extend the court's best wishes to the woman and hope that she would “have success in addressing her demons and find some peace”.