October 2003 Judge admits freed double rapist ‘still poses a risk’ A DOUBLE rapist has been released from prison 15 months before the end of his 10½-year-sentence for attacking a teenage schoolgirl in 1993. Mr Justice Aindrias O Caoimh yesterday imposed strict conditions on his release after considering Paul Cullinane’s latest application at the Central Criminal Court. Cullinane (38), of Barry Avenue, Galway, was jailed on April 14, 1997, by now retired Mr Justice Feargus Flood for the vicious rape of a teenage schoolgirl on August 24, 1993. Mr Justice O Caoimh said that Cullinane continued to pose a risk to the community but that if the court were to release him early under strict conditions, his integration into the community could be more strictly controlled. The conditions for his release include staying at a residence secured for him by his family; working for his brother-in-law under his direct daily supervision; never making contact with the victim or her family; providing urine samples whenever required by the probation and welfare services; signing the sexual offenders register and attending Alcoholics Annonymous meetings regularly. He is also to refrain from going into bars, restaurants, cafes or other such venues when in Galway city and to keep in close contact with the probation and welfare services in Galway. Probation and welfare Officer Oliver Fallon told the court he would personally be handing over Cullinane to the Galway probation and welfare services, where two officers had been assigned to supervise him. Mr Fallon informed Mr Justice O Caoimh that he had been in close contact with Cullinane’s brother-in-law and sister and was satisfied they were undertaking the onerous responsibility of supervising Cullinane for “good reasons” and would carry out the responsibility fully. Mr O Caoimh said he had disappointed Cullinane on various other occasions, having refused his application in December 2001, because his primary concern had always been the victim. He said the latest victim-impact reports indicated she was making good progress but noted that the effects of the ordeal would undoubtedly remain with her for the rest of her life. Cullinane’s early release would also cause anxiety to other members of the community in light of the circumstances of his offence and because the risk of his reoffending continued to exist. At the last hearing in December 2001, Mr Justice O Caoimh adjourned review of the sentence for two years so that Cullinane could be provided with all the necessary psychological treatment believed necessary by experts before he was released back into the community. When Cullinane was jailed in 1997 for the teenager’s rape, the court heard he had lured her off a bus and tricked her into believing a friend had sent him to meet her. He then took her to his home and raped her. He was also jailed for six years in 1982 for raping another woman. Mr Justice Flood agreed to backdate the 1997 sentence to the date of Cullinane’s arrest and originally set June 23, 2000, for review of the sentence with an indication that he might release him on very strict conditions on July 3, 2000, his final day sitting as a High Court judge. However, he refused to release Cullinane at that hearing after reading reports furnished and he told Cullinane he could apply again in January 2001. Mr Justice O Caoimh then took over the case and has adjourned the review hearings several times.