Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A WOMAN RAPED by three men after a night out in Dublin almost six years ago has spoken out about the “traumatic” trial which resulted in their convictions.
Anthony Hickey (39), Fabio Vicente (42) and Matin Zolfaghari (34) were sentenced last month at the Central Criminal Court for the assault which took place in August 2019.
The woman met the trio in a nightclub before they “co-ordinated” a plan to bring her back to the then home of Hickey where the assault took place.
Mr Justice Paul Burns noted when sentencing: “to say the facts of this matter are disturbing is something of an understatement”.
He said the victim was in a vulnerable state, and the three man “acting together” took advantage of her vulnerability in a “cruel, cynical, and depraved manner, devoid of any semblance of human decency”.
The woman said in an interview aired on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the legal process “plunged” her back into the traumatic events of the attack.
“There was three men on trial, which meant I was cross-examined by three barristers for three days to be plunged back into the trauma of what happened, and have 50 people in a courtroom judging every movement you make and every word you say.”
Reflecting on the trial, she commended herself for mustering up enough courage to confront that “dark” night by testifying to the court.
“It’s a really traumatic experience, but I did find the strength. I got up there every day, and I just imagined clinking my armour.”
She said the trial revealed several disturbing details of what transpired on that night in 2019, some of which she was previously unaware of.
One such detail was video footage shared on Whatsapp between two of the men in which the woman is heard saying “no” to their advances three times.
“They continued to laugh and chose to do this to me anyway”, she said, describing the whole event as “dehumanising and humiliating”.
Evidence provided showed that Hickey wrote into the chat to comment on the video: “listen to you laughing after she says no”.
The trial reviewed CCTV footage from the nightclub which showed her dancing near the men in the lead up to her assault. Despite being the victim, the woman found she had to remind herself that she had done nothing wrong.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, the woman says it was her housemate who contacted the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre for her, as well as the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU) at the Rotunda Hospital.
While waiting to be seen at SATU, she said she felt “so dirty and so ashamed” after what had been done to her.
The onset of Covid-19 a few months after the assault delayed proceedings considerably. But in February of last year, she received a call saying the men had been charged, news which she said left her feeling a mix of “validated, angry, upset and anxious about what was to come”.
In order to not see the faces of the men which might trigger flashbacks of her suffering on the night, the woman requested a screen to be placed around her when testifying.
She commended her husband for remaining by her side throughout, as well as investigating gardaí who she says became emotional once the final verdicts were delivered.
In combatting what she claims is an “epidemic of gender-based violence”, the woman said she has no regrets about fighting to the bitter end.
“As awful as the process was, I would do it again to get them where they are.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say