JUDGE JAILS TWO MEN FOR RAPING WOMAN IN COUNTY TYRONE

Judge Richard Green has jailed two men for raping a woman in an underground car park in County Tyrone. Luis Dos Martins Mariano, of Sloan Street, Dungannon, and Alcino Soares, of Braeside, Dungannon, had pleaded guilty to rape. The attack took place in Dungannon on 10 September 2023, when both men were 17, and CCTV recorded part of it. The judge sentenced each man at Downpatrick Crown Court to six years, three in custody and three on licence. Both men appeared on Thursday by video link from Hydebank prison.

The woman had been on a night out in Dungannon on 9 September 2023 when the two men approached her outside a fast food shop and led her down an alleyway into the car park. Judge Green said the two men subjected her to a "prolonged and humiliating ordeal", taking turns to rape her, and that it should have been obvious she was intoxicated and unable to resist or call for help, calling the attack "cowardly". He said taking her to the car park late at night showed a "significant degree of planning and foresight". Both men had moved to Northern Ireland from East Timor when younger, and a Tetum interpreter assisted them during the proceedings.

Judge Green said he considered the men's age at the time of the offence, their learning difficulties, their guilty pleas and delays in the case reaching court. He also commended the woman's "bravery" in coming forward, calling her a "survivor". Her victim impact statement was "eloquent and moving", he said. Both men will serve three years in prison before serving the remaining three years of their sentence on licence.