Clement Limen (45) was jailed for seven-and-a-half years for luring two women to his apartment and raping them.
The university graduate, from Cameroon in central Africa, told them there was a party at his flat before knocking them out with alcohol. When they woke up, he was raping them.
Limen had been living in Sligo for seven years, where he was known for his flamboyant dress and personality.
Suspicious
However, gardai had long suspected him of prowling nightclubs and spiking women’s drinks, and a number of pubs and clubs had barred him for “suspicious incidents”.
Unfortunately, officers had no proof.
On the night of the rape, Limen invited the women back to his flat after meeting them in a nightclub on the June bank holiday weekend in 2014.
They declined, but he was waiting for them outside the club at the end of the night. By this time, Limen had convinced about 10 other people to come to his flat in North Court, Quayside.
The women, who were friends, decided it was safe to go, unaware of his sick plans. The last thing they remembered was sipping the drink Limen gave them.
When one of them woke up, Limen was raping her. Later, she went to find her friend, only to find she too had been raped.
In a victim impact statement, one of the women said her life had changed dramatically since she was raped.
“I was once carefree and fun loving. I became introverted and racked with anxiety. I regularly wake with a jolt, thinking he [Limen] is standing over me,” she said.
“If he had pleaded guilty and apologised, I could have forgiven him, but he taunted us at every opportunity, he showed no remorse, was arrogant and told nauseating lies.”
Her friend said the incident had destroyed the past three years of her life.
“He [Limen] carried my listless body into a bedroom where he violated and raped me.”
Both women said Limen’s refusal to give a blood sample to eliminate sexually transmitted diseases caused them distress.
Humiliating
“I had to go to an STD clinic, which was humiliating as I am a married woman,” said one of the women. “It was an extra blow to put us through.”
Limen intends to appeal his conviction because he does not accept the jury’s verdict, and separately make a constitutional challenge regarding the terms of his detention.
Mr Justice Coffey said the crime was aggravated by the “trauma and anguish” it caused the victims.
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