A Lithuanian man who raped and tried to strangle a minor in Roscrea has been sentenced to 12 years in jail.
Robert Simaitis aged 30, of Grove Street, Roscrea had pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping and recklessly endangering the 16-year-old girl in a disused graveyard on December 5, 2010.
The temperature was minus three and there was snow on the ground on the night in question.
Garda Thomas Hanrahan described how the graveyard is on two sloping levels with a wooden fence in-between. He said this broke and the victim fell to the lower level, over six metres below.
The accused man indicated he left the victim rolling down the hill and didn’t wait to see if she was alive or dead.
Judge Paul Carney sentenced Simaitis to 12 years and also registered him as a sex offender.
