Woman was arrested while trying to report rape by repeat offender, court hears

Niamh O’Donoghue

A convicted rapist has been jailed for 11 years for raping a woman a year after he was released from a 10-year rape sentence.

The Central Criminal Court heard the victim was arrested while trying to report the incident in a distressed state at a Dublin garda station.

Ibrahim Ahmed Gharib (48) was found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting Christina Foley at Poolbeg Street, Dublin 2 on February 9 or 10, 2025.

In 2018, Gharib, of Mary Aikenhead House, Dublin 8, was given a 10-year sentence for raping a student he met on a bus to Carlow and followed home. He was released from prison in January 2024.

In a previous hearing last week, Detective Inspector Damien Kelly told the court that the incident happened in a builders’ shed in Poolbeg Street in the city centre. He said the complainant met Gharib on O’Connell Street at around midnight on the date in question.

The victim lived in a hostel for the homeless and had never met Gharib before. They were consuming crack cocaine and went to Oliver Bond flats to acquire further drugs the court heard.

They went to the builders cabin where they consumed more crack and Gharib tried to “touch her up”. The victim made it clear she had a boyfriend and at 5am she told him she wanted to go asleep because she was tired and coming off drugs.

“I did not consent to him doing anything to me while I was asleep,” the victim said.

When she went to Pearse Street Garda Station to report the incident, Gharib followed her and told her he would “make it up to her”. The complainant was in a distressed state and tried to get a guard to come to the public counter at around 7am.

She was arrested “for her own behaviour”, with the court hearing there was damage to the perspex glass. The court was told the charges against her were withdrawn.

She went back to the hostel and was brought to the SATU in the Rotunda Hospital. A semen DNA match was found for Gharib, who was arrested and brought to Kevin Street Garda Station for questioning. He alleged the victim was blackmailing him.

Foley was in court for the hearing and a victim impact statement was handed in, which was read by prosecution barrister Tony McGillicuddy. He told the court she wished to waive her anonymity.

Foley outlined the way she was treated by gardaí when she went to report the incident and said the handcuffs were so tight she had marks on her hands.

She went back to her hostel and initially refused to let a member of staff ring gardaí. However, she agreed to meet two female gardaí at Store Street Garda Station.

Foley said she suffers from anxiety and there were “times in my life I just wanted to end it”.

“The last three months of this trial has taken a lot out of me,” she said. “I will never forget what he did to me.” She said she wanted to thank Garda Lisa Scannell, and all the other gardaí who helped her, and the legal team saying: “The streets will be safer.”

In mitigation, Dara Foynes, defending, said her client did not accept the verdict of the jury; "however, Ms Foley has been vindicated”.

Sentencing on Friday, Judge Sean Gillane noted from the victim impact statement the despair the injured party felt and that her previous anxiety was exacerbated by the incident.

He said the offence was in the serious category, as Gharib took advantage of her kindness. “The level of culpability, in my view, is very high,” said the judge.

The judge noted Gharib had a relevant previous conviction “which cannot be ignored”.

Gillane set a headline sentence of 12 years, saying he tried to identify any mitigation. Gharib claimed the victim was a liar and does not accept the verdict of the jury.

The judge noted Gharib was a very isolated figure and reduced the headline sentence by one year to an 11-year jail term.

Gillane placed him on the sex offenders’ register and backdated the sentence to June 11, 2025.

Gharib was given a 10-year sentence at the Central Criminal Court in 2018 for rape and sexual assault and was released on January 22, 2024.

He denied rape, sexual assault and threatening to kill this woman at her home between July 7 and 8, 2016. He also denied sexual assaulting her on a bus on July 7.

Before raping her, Gharib told the 27-year-old victim that he would “give her the best 10 minutes of her life”.

Lawyers for the Egyptian national asked the Central Criminal Court in 2018 to prevent the media publishing his name because of “threats to his life”. They said Gharib claimed he was concerned that people in his country who are looking for him would find him if he was publicly identified.

However, Pauline Walley, prosecuting in that case, said there was a constitutional imperative for justice to be done in public. She said Gharib never raised the issue of threats before and there was no evidence to support the claims.

Defence counsel in that case, Colman Cody, said his client was a “productive member of society” who arrived in Ireland in 2013 and worked mainly on fishing trawlers. He was a “model prisoner”, Cody said.

The court previously heard that Gharib, an illegal immigrant, had a previous conviction for masturbating in public. Walley said that gardaí had in fact made a mistake and that the conviction was for urinating in public.