Monaghan man to be sentenced next month for rape of woman he met on Tinder

A man who attacked and raped a woman in her home after meeting her on the dating app Tinder will be sentenced next month.

During the attack Peter Loughran (36) banged the woman’s head off of the floor and slapped her in the face when she started praying out loud. At one point he began filming her with his phone and slapped her in the face when she tried to cover her face with her hair.

Loughran of Glasnevin Downs, Ballygall, Dublin, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to rape and oral rape at an address in Dublin on January 5th, 2018. He has four previous convictions, including convictions for possession of drugs, drink-driving and public order offences.

Garda Catherine Byrne told Vincent Heneghan SC, prosecuting, that a week or two before the incident, the victim had met Loughran on Tinder and they struck up a conversation.

They later met at her apartment in the city and were kissing when Loughran became aggressive and attacked and raped the woman.

At one point he started to film her with his phone and slapped her in the face when she tried to cover her face with her hair. She started screaming and he hit her head off of the floor three times.

At another stage he stopped touching her for a while and she started praying out loud. He told her to stop and slapped her in the face.

The victim believed that the incident would “go on for days” and started trying to “negotiate” with the man. She said she had a boyfriend who would soon arrive and a flatmate who was moving in the next morning, but Loughran did not believe either of her claims.

The incident came to an end when Loughran allowed the victim to go to the bathroom. While there the victim pretended to vomit, tried to force herself to vomit and told him she was insulin dependent.

The victim pretended to faint and told Loughran that she would die unless she went to a hospital. He started to panic, put his clothes on and said he would take her to hospital.

As they left the apartment the victim pretended to collapse and Loughran told her to wait and he would go get his car. Once he had left her flat she went inside, locked the door and immediately called the Garda.

Gda Byrne agreed with James Dwyer SC, defending, that his client told gardaí he had grown up in Monaghan. She agreed his client had agreed to go into custody of his own volition after pleading guilty in October 2020.

Justice Paul McDermott adjourned the case to April 30th next, when victim impact evidence and the plea in mitigation will be heard.

* This article was amended on March 24th, 2021