GEORGE KEYES FROM PORTARLINGTON, CO LAOIS, SENTENCED FOR HORRIFIC RAPE OF TEEN BABYSITTERS

In April 2008, a man named George Keyes, aged 39, was sentenced to a lengthy prison term after committing a series of heinous sexual assaults on two teenage girls in the town of Portarlington, Co Laois. The court heard that Keyes, who resided at Waterfront Apartments in Portarlington, had consumed a dangerous cocktail of drugs and alcohol before carrying out these brutal acts.

According to the evidence presented at the Central Criminal Court, Keyes had taken cocaine, amphetamines, cannabis, ecstasy, and alcohol prior to the assaults. His intoxication appeared to have severely impaired his judgment and control, leading him to commit multiple rapes against both victims. During the attack, he subjected each girl to repeated sexual assaults, with one girl being raped four times and the other three times. Disturbingly, he forced each victim to watch as he raped the other, adding a layer of psychological trauma to the physical violence.

Throughout the ordeal, Keyes made chilling remarks to his victims, telling them, “you’re going to love it” and “it’s not as if you’re a virgin,” as he assaulted them. The court was told that his actions were not only violent but also deeply degrading and calculated. The victims, who were babysitting for a friend at the time, were caught off guard when Keyes entered the house around 1 a.m. Sergeant JJ Kirby testified that one of the girls remarked that Keyes looked “a bit stoned” when he arrived. He then asked to see their phones, and although one girl initially handed hers over, the other refused. A struggle ensued, during which Keyes grabbed both phones and pocketed them.

Sergeant Kirby further explained that Keyes then locked the front door of the house, placing the key in his pocket, and ominously declared to the girls, “Girls, I’m going to rape ye.” At first, the girls thought he was joking and laughed, but his subsequent words, “Girls, I’m serious,” confirmed their fears. What followed was a series of horrific sexual assaults, with Keyes repeatedly raping both girls. During the assaults, he also made threatening statements, including, “I’m going to hang myself in the morning so I don’t care if ye squeal,” indicating his apparent indifference to the consequences of his actions.

After the assault, one of the victims managed to contact her mother, who advised them to leave the house in a taxi with the children they were babysitting. The mother, distressed by what she heard, promptly reported the incident to the Gardaí. Keyes was apprehended approximately 24 hours later on a roadside near Newbridge, Co Kildare, after Gardaí spotted him hitchhiking. He claimed to have walked along railway tracks to reach that location.

During police interviews, Keyes admitted to the crimes but claimed to have little memory of the events, attributing his amnesia to the effects of the drugs and alcohol he had consumed. His defense team highlighted that Keyes fully accepted responsibility for his actions, expressing remorse and apologizing for the “awfulness” of what he had done. They noted that he had voluntarily pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, aiming to spare the victims the trauma of testifying in court. The judge, Mr. Justice Paul Carney, sentenced Keyes to 15 years in prison for these “outrages,” with the final three years suspended. Additionally, he ordered that Keyes be registered as a sex offender and subjected to five years of post-release supervision, emphasizing the seriousness of his crimes and the need for ongoing monitoring.