A serial sex offender who attacked women he met on Tinder has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Patrick Nevin, 37, was sentenced on Monday at Dublin’s Central Criminal Court by Justice Eileen Creedon, after pleading guilty to one charge of rape and one charge of sexual assault, which took place just four days apart.
Nevin, who was 33 at the time of the offences, met both women through the dating app and met them near their homes.
The computer programmer is already serving a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence for a sexual assault on a student he also met on Tinder, five days after the first two attacks.
In the first incident, Nevin picked up a woman, 26, he had met on Tinder earlier that day on July 12 2014.
The victim had told Nevin she was not looking for sex but a genuine relationship, which he said he had no issue with.
After taking the victim for a drive in his car, he stopped down a narrow country road and the victim said she did not know where she was.
Nevin had mentioned the IRA and Dundalk during conversation, and said: “Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you here.”
After consensual kissing, matters became non-consensual, and Nevin went on to rape the woman.
The victim previously described to the court being numb and afraid for her safety, and in shock.
On the drive home, she asked Nevin why he raped her and he replied that he got carried away.
Four days later, after speaking to another woman, 27, on Tinder, Nevin picked her up near her home. Again, Nevin mentioned the IRA and drove to a narrow country lane, where he climbed on top of her and pinned her down.
She asked him to stop, and pushed him off.
Nevin became angry and told her to get out of the car, but when she got out she did not know where she was.
He pulled up beside her shortly after and said he would take her home. The victim said she felt she had no choice and got into the car. Soon after Nevin pulled over and attacked her again, and the victim began having a panic attack.
Nevin pinned her down and sexually assaulted her. Afterwards he apologised to her and messaged her on WhatsApp.
Nevin had recorded the incident, which was obtained by the Gardai and submitted to the court.
Justice Creedon described the audio, and said Nevin could be heard talking to the victim in a threatening manner, and the victim asking Nevin to stop.
Both victims previously told the court that they had been terrified by their ordeals.
Both were afraid Nevin would return to “get them” as he knew where they lived, and both said their relationships with friends and family had been severely damaged.
They suffer from anxiety, and one of the victims has since moved house and lost a job offer, as she did not want to tell her new employer why she had to attend court proceedings.
The second victim said the recording of the attack had added to her extreme stress and she has not been in a romantic relationship since.
Nevin told Gardai he had thousands of matches on Tinder, and met hundreds of women in person.
The court heard that Nevin accepted responsibility for the two charges and agreed he subjected both women to trauma for his own gratification.
He has a number of previous convictions, including an unauthorised firearm offence, for which he received a four-year suspended sentence.
The two attacks were committed during this period of suspension.
He also has a previous conviction for assault on his former partner, in which he killed his girlfriend’s two dogs before attacking the woman.
Reports suggested Nevin shows hostility towards women, has deficits in problem solving and uses sex as an emotional coping mechanism, which place him at high risk of reoffending.
Justice Creedon said: “It is clear this was premeditated, due to the remote location increasing the vulnerability of the complainants.”
She said it “demonstrates a remorseless attitude” and that they had been “premeditated and callous sustained attacks”.
Nevin pleaded guilty to one charge of rape and one count of sexual assault. A letter of apology was handed addressed to both victims.
He was sentenced to 14 years, with the final two years suspended. An eight-year sentence for sexual assault is to run concurrently.
Nevin will also be subject to post-release supervision for five years, during which he must abstain from bodybuilding substances, is banned from electronic dating sites and must undertake an anger management programme.