A Westmeath man received a "very, very light" sentence for raping a woman with a bottle, according to a former leading detective.
Jonathan Moran, from Tower View in Mullingar, was jailed for eight years yesterday and his victim, Bláthnaid Raleigh, waived her anonymity so he could be named.
26-year-old Moran raped the 21-year-old in a garden shed in Galway in 2019 and penetrated her anus with a bottle.
Moran played rugby in the local club in Mullingar with Raleigh's brothers.
He denied what he had done but was found guilty.
The maximum sentence for rape is life in jail, and former sergeant-in-charge of the garda cold case unit, Alan Bailey, says Moran got off lightly.
"I thought the sentence itself was certainly at the lighter end of potential sentences for a crime like that," he said.
"The judge himself described the injuries that were inflicted on the young injured party as being horrific.
"So you have imagined he would have taken into account that this girl was known to her assailant and, on the night in question, at 21 years of age, she trusted him entirely. And he inflicted these horrific wounds her.
"I think the nine-year sentence, with the final year suspended, was a very, very light sentence, given all the circumstances. The actual sentence itself I don't think adequately reflects the seriousness of the offence."
