A rickshaw driver sentenced to 13 years in jail for violently raping a woman in a laneway close to a city nightclub has appealed his sentence.

Brazilian Rafael Tiso (31), with a previous address in Offaly Road, Cabra, has instructed his legal team to appeal the severity of his prison term.

Notice of his appeal comes as the victim of the attack continues to recover from her ordeal.

It is understood she is due to undergo more surgery on the injuries she sustained during the attack.

Tiso's appeal will come before the Court of Appeal next year. Last November, the Central Criminal Court heard how the 24-year-old victim was left with horrific injuries following the attack.

If she decides to have children in the future, she will not be able to give birth naturally, the court heard.

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Captured

Tiso, who was working as a rickshaw driver in the Harcourt Street area, was captured on CCTV leaving a nightclub with the intoxicated victim and walking with her down a side street before going into a lane with her. He left the lane 40 minutes later and returned to drink in the same bar.

A passer-by heard a moaning noise and discovered the woman lying on the ground between a truck and a car.

Gardai were alerted and the woman was taken to hospital.

Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said the injuries caused to the victim were appalling.

She has been advised that she should not give birth naturally in the future and she may also suffer complications at menopause.

In her victim impact statement the woman described it as like being in "an episode of a horror series".

She said she sometimes felt as if she was in a nightmare and tried not to think about what happened.

Fight

She said she would like to "delete that day" and described "a daily fight between going forward or making a martyr of myself".

Tiso, who was living in rented accommodation at Offaly Road, Cabra, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to rape, oral rape, aggravated sexual assault and assault causing harm to the woman at Montague Lane, Dublin, on January 18.

He had no previous convictions and has been in custody since his arrest.

The judge said it was a violent and callous crime perpetrated on a vulnerable young woman. She said the victim's impact report showed how the attack would affect her for the rest of her life.

She suspended the final year of a 14-year sentence on condition that Tiso leave the country on his release for a period of 10 years.

Online Editors