A college student who was raped while she was sleeping by a trainee pilot she encountered during a night out has said that while he was building his future, she was “trying to survive mine”.

Chris Brady (31) of Cornstown, Ashbourne, Co. Meath was convicted of rape at his home in May 2023 following a Central Criminal Court trial last month.

Eoghan Cole SC, prosecuting, told the court that the woman wishes to retain her right to anonymity, but is happy for Brady to be named in reporting the case.

Brady was jailed for six years on Tuesday.

Garda Sergeant Jessica Hargadon gave evidence that the woman and two friends were socialising and had some drinks. They went to Coppers nightclub where her friends encountered Brady and his friend.

The woman was introduced to him at the end of the night and thought he was interested in one of her friends.

They all decided to continue the night and went to Brady’s home, where he later asked to kiss the woman.

She said “no” and that she thought he wanted to be with her friend. He said he wanted to be with her as her friend wasn’t paying him enough attention.

She later went to sleep in one room, while her friends slept in different rooms. She was woken up by Brady raping her.

She told him to get off or pushed him off. She asked him to let her sleep and turned on her side. He said something like “you’re scaring me, I feel like I’ve attacked you. I’m sorry”.

She thought she could hear him masturbating beside her.

He tried again to have sex with her again momentarily. She told him to leave, which he did.

The woman called a friend and told her what had happened. She then left the room and went to stay with one of her friends in another room for the rest of the night.

There was a minor road traffic incident while Brady was driving the women back to their homes.

The victim showed a note on her phone to her friends: “I hate him, I woke up and he was having sex with me” during this incident.

Complaint

She made a complaint to gardaí two days later and was also examined at a sexual assault treatment unit.

Brady co-operated with the investigation and made a voluntary prepared statement in August 2024.

He claimed that the woman flirted with him and initiated consensual sexual activity. He said he woke up to find the woman kissing him, then they engaged in consensual sex, which the woman stopped due to having a romantic interest in someone else.

Brady has not come to other negative attention, the court heard. He has no previous convictions and has been in custody since July 1st, when the jury returned its verdict.

Reading her victim impact statement, the woman said what was supposed to be an “ordinary night out” with friends was turned into “something ugly”.

College experience

Her studies and her experience of college were negatively affected by what happened, and she now sees the world as a cruel place.

“While you were building your future, I was trying to survive mine”.

The woman said she chose to come to court alone to spare her family from seeing her being cross-examined. In contrast, Brady had “family outside those doors waiting”.

She said the difference was “because I was carrying a different story”.

“Yours came with no shame at all. Mine came wrapped in shame, and that changes what you can ask someone to sit through.”

She said Brady “used my story as your own” in his statement to gardaí.

“The evil it takes to do that is incredible. You didn’t put together a simple story. You knew what happened and still you decided to sit down and write what sounded to me like a sick fantasy”.

She said hearing Brady’s version of the night was the “biggest shock” and there was “no remorse or guilt in making up a story like that”.

“How does a person actually go into bedroom, see a girl sleeping and think that’s his chance. How does someone take what they want,” she said, saying that question has “haunted” her.

She said hearing Brady’s version didn’t make what happened any easier but helped to answer her question of how someone can have sex with a sleeping person “because they don’t see anything else but a sleeping body”.

Testimonials from Brady’s father, siblings, a family friend and a coach from Ashbourne GAA club were handed to the court.

Sean Guerin SC, defending, noted that the testimonials refer to Brady as hard-working, trustworthy and supportive of others, and someone involved in charity fundraising and sport.

Guerin said that in the current circumstances, it appeared to be subject to criticism for someone to provide a testimonial.

He noted that it is an established part of the process for the court to know of a defendant’s character apart from the offence, and that the testimonials acknowledge his client’s conviction.

Brady has diagnoses of dyslexia and ADHD.

Guerin said his client trained as a pilot, but was unable to work as he could not secure garda clearance. Brady then qualified and worked as a flight instructor, until the same vetting issue emerged.

He submitted that the conviction’s consequences will be “career-long” for Brady and this is an “unusual and significant” mitigating factor.

He said his instructions are that Brady will not appeal the conviction.

“In that sense, he accepts verdict of the jury. He fought the case on basis of an account he gave and that’s as far as I can put the matter,” Guerin said.

He submitted that his client has “good prospects for rehabilitation”.

Imposing sentence, Judge Melanie Greally said the court considered the sexual violation of a sleeping person to be “intrinsically at a higher level”.

She noted that the will of the sleeping person is “so totally and completely overborne that they have no power to resist or refuse” and that the person violated can never know the full extent of what happened.

She said the second act of penetration, however brief, was also aggravating along with evidence of “gaslighting” by Brady through saying “you’re scaring me, I feel like I’ve attacked you. I’m sorry”.

The judge also noted the “profound” impact on the woman. She said the woman’s impact statement “spoke of exposing and intrusive nature of trial process” and her feeling of humiliation.

The judge said the woman “correctly observed that it could have been avoided if Brady had admitted his guilt”.

She set a headline sentence of eight years, which she reduced to six years to take account of the mitigation.

Judge Greally said the woman had “demonstrated admirable courage, strength and resilience” during the case and that the court hoped the end of proceedings would bring some comfort and the potential for future healing.

Counselling records

In her victim impact statement, the woman said she was told that the defence wished to access her counselling records and described being shown notes with “lots of intimate details” about her life.

She said this was “another exposure by the very system supposed to be protecting me”. She said she didn’t return to counselling and felt “any attempt to understand what had happened wasn’t allowed”.

“I wasn’t treated as a human trying to heal, but as material for the defence to use to try to undermine my character”.

She said “intimate photos” of her were described to the jury and “used to paint me as promiscuous”. She said the defence closing speech referred to a photo being sent to someone and “hearing my private choice used that way was humiliating”.

She said she and her friends were reduced to “three girls who just wanted to sleep with guys” as if they had nothing else to offer. She pointed out that her friends are each highly accomplished and were like her “sisters”.

She thought her “body being used without my consent” would be the worst of it, but “it just kept going in different forms for three years.”

She said she chose to come forward and would do so again, but “choosing to come forward is not the same as being exposed by the very process supposed to hold you [Brady] accountable”.

She said from what she had seen, Brady had not taken responsibility for his actions.

“Had you been a perfect gentleman, you’d have come forward and pleaded guilty” and spared her this process.

Referring to the victim impact statement, Mr Guerin said the defence made a request following the normal process for any relevant counselling records to be disclosed.

He said the prosecution identified a single page of notes as relevant which was disclosed with consent and “not deployed” during the trial.

He said the defence case was not that the victim was promiscuous, but the trial was “fought on the basis that there was a fleeting period of misjudgement which [the victim] regretted due to an existing relationship”.

Judge Greally noted that this was referred to in the defence closing speech and it was “subject to comment” from the court and the prosecution.

The judge added that a victim impact statement is the subjective perspective of the injured party.

Cole noted that the woman did not have a right of reply and said it was “fair to note that one way or another the jury was invited to conclude that because she had done something consensually with another person, she was more likely to engage with something as said by the accused”.

He said the woman also outlined how she perceived the process.

*If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112. *