‘Dangerous' rapist caught in middle of sex attack gets seven year sentence
Judge Devlin revealed that when Ayres raped the woman, he had only been freed from prison the previous week
Maurice Ayres
Maurice Ayres appeared before Antrim Crown Court where he was given an extended custodial term.
Judge Alistair Devlin described the 30-year-old as a dangerous offender given the facts of the case, previous record and the risk that he poses.
As well as imposing the seven-year term as part of an extended custodial sentence, the judge ordered that Ayres be subject to an extra three years on supervised licence conditions when he is eventually freed.
Maurice Ayres
The sentence means that rather than being released automatically at the halfway point of his sentence, it will be up to the Parole Commissioners if, and under what conditions, Ayres is freed from custody.
At an earlier hearing, the defendant, of no fixed abode in Belfast, entered guilty pleas to charges of rape and causing the victim actual bodily harm on March 17 last year.
He also admitted three other charges relating to two breaches of a Violent Offences Prevention Order (VOPO) committed between March 12-18 and failing to tell police he had been freed from prison.
Judge Devlin outlined how it had been just after 8pm on St Patrick's Day last year when a man contacted 999 to report his concerns that a woman was being raped in the communal area of a block of flats.
Reading from an agreed set of facts prepared by prosecuting counsel Suzanne Gallagher, the judge told the court that when police arrived they found Ayres behind the naked and 'almost incoherent' victim, having sexual intercourse. When they stopped Ayres in the act, officers noticed that the victim's face was swollen and that her lip was bleeding.
The victim was 'lapsing in and out of consciousness' so was taken to hospital. Despite her repeated assurances and promises that she would make a statement, no such statement was ever forthcoming.
Maurice Ayres
News in 90 Seconds - June 1st
The court heard that the man who called 999 gave police an audio recording he had made, from which, said the judge, the victim appeared 'to be in distress' and sounds of slapping could be heard.
The caller told police that, looking out through the peephole in his door, he could see that Ayres 'had the hold of her by the hair. He was slapping and punching her and he had to pick her up as she kept falling on the floor.'
An examination of the communal hallway uncovered 'clumps of hair' which, when forensically examined, were found to have come from the victim and had been pulled out by the roots, indicating that they had been 'forcefully pulled from her head'.
Arrested and interviewed, Ayres claimed the woman had been assaulted in a fight with another woman earlier that evening and that, when he hugged her to comfort her, 'they started to kiss, one thing led to another' and they ended up having consensual sex.
Claiming that he believed the victim was 'fit to consent', Ayres further claimed that 'if she had indicated she didn't want to do it, he wouldn't have crossed that line'.
Judge Devlin revealed that when Ayres raped the woman, he had only been freed from prison the previous week, having served a sentence for serious assault.
In that case, Ayres had been made the subject of a Violent Offences Prevention Order, and so, by raping and assaulting his victim, he breached three different terms of that order.
That was just one of a litany of aggravating features, said the judge, adding that others included the vulnerability of the 'grossly intoxicated victim' and the fact she was subject to violence and degradation over and above the rape itself in that she had been 'dragged about the floor, almost certainly by the hair'.
'Far and away the significant mitigating factor' was Ayres' guilty pleas, said Judge Devlin, adding that, in his assessment, the defendant's culpability and risk were high, while the harm he caused, in circumstances where there was no victim impact statement, 'is between moderate to high'.
Given that high risk, coupled with Ayres' previous offences of serious violence and multiple breaches of the VOPO, the judge said he was satisfied the defendant 'poses a significant risk of causing serious harm'.
Having classed Ayres as a dangerous offender, the judge said it was for that reason he was imposing the seven-year, extended custodial sentence.
In addition, the judge ordered Ayres to sign the police sex offenders register for the rest of his life.
Once he is released, Ayres will be subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for a further five years.
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