‘Sheer brutality\u2019: Victim suffers fractured skull and scarring in broad daylight hammer attack in Limerick<\/a><\/p>\nJudge Ronan Munro, in passing sentence, said it was \u201cany person\u2019s worst nightmare\u201d and spoke of the \u201cdevastating impact\u201d on the victim.<\/p>\n
Elias Jihad Khalife, but known in Limerick as Johnny Khalife, aged 61, of St Ritas, Ballymacreese, Ballyneety, pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court to sexual assault. Reporting restrictions were lifted on naming Mr Khalife, who is originally from Lebanon and is an Irish citizen for 17 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nothing is to be reported that could identify the victim.<\/p>\n
Prosecuting barrister John O\u2019Sullivan, instructed by State solicitor Padraig Mawe, outlined the evidence with the assistance of Garda Stephen Kelleher.<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Sullivan said Mr Khalife, the woman and her partner were out socialising in Limerick city in February 2018. Mr Khalife was an acquaintance of the victim\u2019s partner and she had met Mr Khalife around two months previously.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey ended up in a nightclub. She later told gardai in a statement that Mr Khalife was \u2018acting a bit strange, I got a bad vibe from him and he kept trying to get me out on the dancefloor\u2019. She has a poor memory of leaving the nightclub.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe remembers being back at home in bed with her partner. She told gardai she was asleep. She describes being naked under the covers,\u201d said Mr O\u2019Sulllivan, who then read out the woman\u2019s statement to gardai.<\/p>\n
\u2018What eventually woke me was I could feel someone performing oral sex on me. I was lying flat on the bed. I felt across and my partner was beside me so I knew it wasn\u2019t him performing oral sex on me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lifted the covers up and saw Johnny Khalife.\u00a0 My legs were spread and he was in between them. I just started screaming. I couldn\u2019t believe what was happening. I was in complete shock, complete disbelief. Johnny Khalife dived out from under the covers, lay down on the floor and pretended to be asleep\u2019,\u201d read out Mr O\u2019Sullivan from the woman\u2019s interview with gardai.<\/p>\n
The court heard the victim didn\u2019t tell her partner what happened but screamed at him to get Johnny Khalife out of the room. The two men then left the house.<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Sullivan said the woman went to a neighbour\u2019s home on the outskirts of Limerick city at around 6.30am. Gardai were called and she was taken to a Sexual Assault Treatment Unit. The court heard that DNA evidence obtained connected Mr Khalife\u2019s saliva to her vagina.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The victim told gardai: \u201cWhat Johnny Khalife did to me was absolutely done without any consent. It was disgusting and I am disgusted that I got so drunk that he had the opportunity to perform oral sex on me in my sleep, without any consent from me while my partner was asleep beside me in the bed. It was so brazen. I feel disgusted and violated – I can\u2019t stop thinking about it since it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garda Kelleher read out her victim impact statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe crime committed against me by Johnny Khalife has had a devastating impact on every aspect of my life including my emotional and physical wellbeing. The crime was perpetrated against me by a stranger in the privacy of my own home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has taken over seven years for this individual to be brought to justice and it has been a dreadful punishing ordeal for me and all my family members who have ardently supported me. If it had not been for the dedicated efforts of gardai this man may never have been brought to justice. I wish to thank them and the Office of the DPP,\u201d read out Garda Kelleher, on behalf of the victim.<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Sullivan concluded the State\u2019s case by telling the judge that Mr Khalife is originally from Lebanon, has been living in Ireland since the 1990s and has no previous convictions.<\/p>\n
Pat Whyms BL, who represented Mr Khalife, said his client was born in Lebanon in 1964.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a war-torn country at the time. His father had a supermarket in Beirut that was bombed. He was injured in that and was also injured in a shooting incident,\u201d said Mr Whyms.<\/p>\n
Mr Khalife moved to Ireland and has been an Irish citizen for 17 years, he said. Mr Whyms said he had operated bars and restaurants in Corbally, Ballyneety Golf Club and in Patrickswell in more recent times.<\/p>\n
On the night in question, Mr Whyms said his client was invited by the victim\u2019s partner to join them in the nightclub.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a lot of drink. After the nightclub he invited them back to his own premises Sareva (Corbally).\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had more drink there to the point Mr Khalife instructs that he doesn\u2019t have any clear recollection of what happened after that. He obviously accepts the DNA evidence is conclusive. It was an opportunistic offence and he wishes to formally express his apology in writing,\u201d said Mr Whyms, who read out a letter penned by Mr Khalife.<\/p>\n
The accused said in the letter that he wants to sincerely apologise for the events in\u00a0 February of\u00a0 2018 and \u201cwhat happened to you\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo this day, over seven years later, I have absolutely no memory of the events and the sexual assault but I accept I must have assaulted you. I truly regret all the hurt and pain you went through and can’t imagine the stress, upset, pain suffered by you and your family for which I am so very sorry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have daughters and I love them very much. I couldn’t imagine how I would feel if something like this happened to them. I regret everything you have gone through and I hope you can forgive me,\u201d wrote Mr Khalife in the letter.<\/p>\n
Mr Whyms said his client is \u201chorrified and appalled\u201d and reiterated his apology.<\/p>\n
READ NEXT:\u00a0Stepmother pleads guilty to murdering four-year-old child<\/a><\/p>\nJudge Munro, in passing sentence, said it was \u201cany person\u2019s worst nightmare to wake up to find, effectively, a stranger performing oral sex\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said it was a very significant violation of her body and bodily integrity and \u201cwe don\u2019t know how long it was going on before she woke up\u201d.<\/p>\n
Judge Munro spoke of the \u201cdevastating impact\u201d on a person trying to sleep after a crime like that.<\/p>\n
The judge described the victim as \u201ca woman of great dignity\u201d and \u201cby making a complaint she has made the world a safer place by exposing this man\u2019s crime\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the factors that troubles me is that he has offered no explanation, saying he doesn\u2019t remember. I have to say I am sceptical about that,\u201d said Judge Munro.<\/p>\n
The judge took into account that Mr Khalife\u2019s plea of guilty, no previous convictions, hasn\u2019t come to garda attention since the offence date and his essentially pro-social life.<\/p>\n
Judge Munro imposed a prison sentence of four years and two months with the final 14 months suspended on condition he engage with a rehabilitative programme for sex offenders in prison, and stay away from the injured party or her parents for 10 years. Mr Khalife was placed on the Sex Offenders Register.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope the termination of these proceedings will assist her in her recovery,\u201d said Judge Munro.<\/p>\n
The victim\u2019s father told the Leader outside court that they were very pleased with the sentence.<\/p>\n
\u201cJustice was served today. Hopefully we can get on with our lives. The last eight years have been absolutely hell on earth for my poor daughter, my wife, for all of us.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to thank Mr O\u2019Sullivan and Mr Mawe who were absolutely wonderful, Judge Munro who was very sympathetic and courteous to us, and especially Garda Kelleher and Garda Alison Carroll who are our heroes,\u201d said the father.<\/p>\n
If you have been affected by this story please contact the 24 Hour Rape Crisis Helpline on 1800 778888 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800666111.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"*** READER DISCRETION ADVISED *** A WELL-KNOWN restaurateur in Limerick has been jailed for performing a sex act…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,61,60,67397,44,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-136456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-limerick-circuit-court","12":"tag-limerick-city","13":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}