A man who regularly raped and sexually assaulted his girlfriend in her sleep has received a suspended sentence of seven years imprisonment.

The full extent of the offending only emerged after Magnus Meyer Hustveit (25) wrote to his former partner and told her he had been using her “body for my gratification” for nearly a year.

The Norwegian man pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to one count of rape and one count of sexual assault of an Irish woman (28) between 2011 and 2012.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said it was a very exceptional case. He said he had to consider the fact that there would be no rational case but for the confessions of the accused.

“In truth this case comes here today out of his own mouth,” he said before suspending the sentence.

The solicitor for Director of Public Prosecutions told the court that the victim wished to waive her right to anonymity to allow Hustveit to be named.

Sgt Patrick Keegan told Mary Rose Gearty SC, prosecuting, that the victim first met Hustveit in a bar in Dublin city centre in 2011. They began a relationship. They moved in together in December 2011, but she had problems with his masturbation and use of pornography.

His crimes first came to light in 2012 when the woman woke up to find herself wet with what she believed to be semen.

She confronted Hustveit who admitted he had had sex with her while she slept. She told him that it was a problem but the relationship continued.

A few weeks later she woke with the feeling that she had been penetrated to find him masturbating and watching porn on his laptop beside her in bed.

Hustveit later admitted that he had regularly raped and sexually assaulted her in her sleep, often while she was under the influence of medication. The relationship ended.

Email exchange

In a subsequent email exchange between the victim and Hustveit in which she asked him to explain his actions, he made detailed admissions including raping her up to ten times and touching her in her sleep up to three times per week throughout their relationship. These emails became the basis of a garda investigation and his computer was seized.

In the email he admitted he had raped the woman, saying: “I guess it must be under ten times”.

He also explained his behaviour, saying “it is really difficult. I did it for short term gratification. I convinced myself it was a victimless crime because you were asleep.

“I didn’t want to hurt you, I just wanted to come. I used the fact I wasn’t allowed watch porn or masturbate as an excuse,” Hustveit said.

“Now I’ve written this, you can have me prosecuted. I hope you won’t,” he said.

Reading her victim impact statement to the court, the woman said her life had been destroyed by the abuse. She said she had to give up her job and return to live with her parents. She had attempted suicide and she suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders and anxiety.

She said Hustveit had been controlling and jealous of her relationships with her family and friends.

He had “violated me in the sanctity of sleep and rest”, and that she was at first “fooled that it was not really rape because it didn’t fit with how rape is often understood”.

She expressed anger that an earlier incident of sexual abuse she suffered as a child had been brought up by his legal defence as a contributing factor in her psychological problems.

Caroline Biggs SC, defending, said Hustveit and members of his family travelled to Ireland six times at great expense to co-operate with the Garda investigation. She said psychological reports indicated he was at low risk of reoffending and feels genuine guilt and remorse.

She asked Mr Justice McCarthy to take into account his guilty plea and his admissions both in the email and to gardaí­, without which the case would have been “all but impossible” to prosecute, she said.