Bláthnaid Raleigh avoided Mullingar for years after rape

Bláthnaid Raleigh was forced to avoid Mullingar for shopping and nights out for five years as her attacker walked free.

Jonathan Moran from Towerview raped her in a shed after a night out in Galway in 2019 and was last month charged with rape and aggravated assault. He was sentenced last week to nine years in prison, with one year suspended, and is currently being held in Mountjoy Prison.

Ms Raleigh, from just outside Mullingar, had waived her right to anonymity so that her attacker could also be named.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner this week, she said she had avoided her local town for years in fear of meeting her attacker.

“Because I knew him and I knew where he lived, I just avoided it really,” she said.

“I had seen him in town twice since it happened and it wouldn’t bother him, he brazenly carried on, and he wouldn’t leave or anything like that.”

See this week's Westmeath Examiner out this morning for the full interview.