Three men jailed for 2019 Dublin nightclub rape
Dublin People 27 Mar 2025
By Eimear Dodd
Three men have been jailed for the “cruel, cynical and depraved” rape and sexual assault of a woman they encountered in a Dublin nightclub almost six years ago.
Anthony Hickey (39), Fabio Vicente (42) and Matin Zolfaghari (34) were convicted following a trial at the Central Criminal Court last month, after pleading not guilty to offences which took place on August 31, 2019.
Imposing sentence, Mr Justice Paul Burns noted “to say the facts of this matter are disturbing is something of an understatement”.
He said the victim was in a vulnerable state, and the three man “acting together” took advantage of her vulnerability in a “cruel, cynical, and depraved manner, devoid of any semblance of human decency”.
The judge said they were “mature” men, who subjected the victim to an “abhorrent series of sexual attacks”, which went “far beyond humiliation”, were dehumanising as well as a “total denial of her inherent dignity as a human being”.
He said the offending must be seen in its “true context” of ”concerted and simultaneous sexual abuse by three men of a vulnerable woman”.
Hickey, of Ballyogan Square, Carrickmines, Dublin 18, was convicted of raping the woman in his then address in Dundrum, and of orally raping and sexually assaulting her in a car.
The personal trainer and father of two was handed a sentence of 16 years, with the final year suspended on strict conditions.
Vicente, of Little Newtown, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, was found guilty of raping the woman in the car and raping her in Hickey’s then-home.
The part-time stripper and personal trainer was also received a sentence of 16 years, with the final year suspended.
Zolfaghari (34), of Marley Court, Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin, was convicted of the oral rape of the woman in the house. The jury found him not guilty of sexually assaulting the woman in the car.
The father of one and restaurant director was given a sentence of 14 years, with the final year suspended.
The court has previously heard the three men do not accept the jury’s verdicts.
Hickey has 10 previous convictions, including one for assault causing harm. Vicente has one previous conviction for a road traffic offence, while Zolfaghari has no previous convictions.
During a previous sentence hearing, the woman said in her victim impact statement that the three men were “complete strangers” who “took advantage of me and used me and my body as if I was an object that they were entitled to”.
She noted that every victim thinks it is their fault at some point, but she said that the fault rested solely with the men ”who waited and preyed and took advantage”.
“You not only raped me, I found out during the trial you violated me in another way. You videoed raping me.”
“You sent around these videos and laughed about me saying ‘no’. You laughed because you didn’t care and you have shown no remorse from the second you entered into these courts.”
In his remarks, Mr Justice Burns said the victim was not at fault for what happened, and the blame rested solely with the men.
The woman had been socialising and went to the nightclub with a friend. She gave evidence during the trial that her memory was hazy after her friend left, but recalled dancing and remembered being offered a white powder, but couldn’t say if she took any.
She recalled being in the back of a vehicle, which she believed to be a taxi, with up to four men, where she was raped. The woman also remembered lying in a bed and kicking out while a male was on top of her.
Forensic analysis showed the woman was highly intoxicated.
When the men were interviewed, they described engaging in consensual sexual activity with the woman.
An analysis of Hickey’s phone identified WhatsApp messages in which he asked Zolfaghari to send him a video.
After Zolfaghari sent two clips which he had recorded on the night of August 31, Hickey replied: “Listen to you laughing after she says ‘no’.”
While nothing is visible in either video, the woman is heard saying ‘no’ several times in a 30-second clip recorded in the car. A second video was recorded in the house.
A later analysis of the men’s phones uncovered communication between them, which included a version of the events that night. This version of events was re-circulated before their garda interviews in September 2020.
Mr Justice Burns said in his sentencing remarks that “rather than feeling any sense of remorse”, two of the men found “callous amusement” in these videos,.
The judge noted that Zolfaghari was convicted of only one offence, but this had to be seen in overall context of the night, and that Zolfaghari had recorded the videos. He said it was “difficult to see his behaviour as significantly less culpable” than the other men.
Mr Justice Burns directed the three men to place themselves under the supervision of The Probation Services for three years post-release and backdated their sentences to the date they went into custody.
The judge extended his best wishes to the victim, and said the court hoped that she would make a further recovery, with the support of her family and appropriate services.
He also commended the gardai for their “excellent and painstaking” investigation.
After the court rose, a large number of supporters of the men entered the back of the courtroom, some shouting “I love you”, with others giving the thumbs up to the men.
When directed to leave by gardai, a female voice said “we are all very upset right now, give us a minute”, while another female voice called out “they were over-sentenced, they are all innocent”.
Reading her statement during a previous sentence hearing, the woman said she had been a “young woman in my 20s who loved fun”, describing herself as “joyful, fearless and carefree”.
She said this changed after she was raped by the three men, that they robbed her of her freedom, her own body and her love for life.
“Not knowing what these men looked like protected me in some ways, but for months on end I would think every man who looked at me could be them.”
She said she exists in a heightened state of fear and while she used to find the good in everyone, “you turned me into someone who thinks that everyone I meet is a threat and is capable of what you were capable of”.
She outlined suffering with anxiety, flashbacks and nightmares following that night.
She said until the trial the men were “faceless monsters” and she asked for a screen to protect her mental health so as “to not have to see your faces”.
But, she said “that protection and right” was “robbed from me when I had to endure hours of CCTV with your faces and behaviour played back for me on a loop”.
She said she “internally screamed” at the screen for someone to help and to change what happened, but that is impossible.
“I know your faces now. And I will look at every single one of you when I say – this is your fault”.
“Every victim at one stage thinks it’s their fault. Why did I stay out?…Why could I not stay out to dance and get home safely.
“Because of you – you who waited and preyed and took advantage…You not only raped me, I found out during the trial you violated me in another way. You videoed raping me.
“You sent around these videos and laughed about me saying ‘no’. You laughed because you didn’t care and you have shown no remorse from the second you entered into these courts.”
Later in her statement, the woman said the criminal process is long and daunting, adding “then you get to the courts and your character is obliterated”.
She told the men that they made a choice that night to hand her a life sentence “all for the sake of a laugh” and “because boys will be boys”.
“I don’t believe you will ever be remorseful for what you did to me,” she said, adding that “the only bit of light I have from this trauma is knowing that I brought you to justice and that makes this world a better world for my daughter”.
Defence counsel asked the court to consider their clients’ personal circumstances and testimonials submitted on their behalf from family members, friends, clients and others.
Hickey is a personal trainer and has two children.
Vicente is from Portugal and served in the military there for four years before coming in Ireland in his late 20s. He has worked in pub security, as a personal trainer and part-time as a stripper.
Zolfaghari has two children and is the director of a restaurant.
Defence counsel also suggested that the case falls into the sentencing category of 10 to 15 years.
In her victim impact statement, the woman said she had to leave a career she loved telling the men “you took that away from me”.
The woman said she had to tell her parents and family members what had happened and must live with the memory of “their faces realising the worst thing they can imagine has happened to their daughter”.
She said the excitement of meeting her partner was affected by the dread of having to tell him about this.
“And I’m one of the lucky ones, I have a life so full of unconditional love and unwavering support and I still felt this way.”
She thanked family members, gardai and the prosecuting counsel for their support.
“You’re changed my life and I want any other victims to know you will be believed and you will be supported.”
Detective Garda Richard Mostyn told Karl Finnegan SC, prosecuting, that the woman had been socialising and drinking with a friend and they went to a nightclub in the early hours of August 31, 2019.
Her friend left and the woman decided to stay. While in the nightclub, she encountered the three defendants, who she didn’t know.
She was dancing and remembered being offered a white powder, but couldn’t say if she took any.
The court heard the woman’s memory of the night was particularly poor after her friend left, and her recollections are limited.
She recalled being in the back of a vehicle, which she believed to be a taxi, with up to four men. The woman remembered being raped in the back of the taxi, and thought she may have been raped there a second time.
The woman recalled the car stopping and moving, and that a man, who she believed to be a taxi driver, opened the door, unbuttoned his trousers and raped her.
The woman also remembered lying in a bed and kicking out while a male was on top of her.
She rushed from the house and ordered a taxi, sending her housemate a Pindrop of her location.
When she got home, the woman told her housemate what had happened. Later that day, she made a complaint to gardai and was taken to a sexual assault treatment unit (SATU) for an examination.
CCTV footage from the nightclub and the route taken by the vehicle was reviewed during the garda investigation.
An Garda Siochana through the community and not through crime.
Bruises and red marks were found on the woman’s arms and legs during the SATU examination. Forensic analysis showed she was highly intoxicated and the court heard the prosecution case is that she was stumbling in CCTV footage.
Male DNA was found on several samples taken during the SATU examination, along with seminal fluid. DNA profiles matching Hickey and Zolfaghari were identified during an analysis of saliva found on the inside of the woman’s bra and underwear. Vicente’s DNA was not identified by this analysis.
Gardai carried out searches of the three men’s homes in December 2019, and seized items including mobile phones.
Mr Finnegan told the court that “significant” evidence was identified following an analysis of Hickey’s phone. This was a WhatsApp exchange between Zolfaghari and himself. These messages include one sent by Hickey on September 9, 2019, where he wrote: “Send me that clip of your one.”
Zolfaghari replied, “Which one?”, and Hickey responded with the name of the nightclub.
Two video clips were sent by Zolfaghari, with Hickey replying: “Listen to you laughing after she says ‘no’.”
Nothing is visible in either of the two clips, which were recorded by Zolfaghari. In a 30-second clip recorded in the car, the woman can be heard to say ‘no’ several times.
A second six-second clip was recorded in the house. The videos were not recovered during analysis of Vicente’s phone.
In his garda interviews read during the trial, Zolfaghari said he shared the videos “for a laugh”, describing it as a “locker room chat”.
Hickey described this exchange to gardai as “boys being boys [which] might come across crude”.
In separate voluntary interviews with the gardai on September 10, 2020, the men offered similar accounts of events in the early hours of August 31, 2019. They said the woman initiated contact with them and the sexual activity was consensual.
The men accepted they had been in the nightclub, where they met the woman, then the four of them went to Vicente’s SUV.
Hickey said he performed oral sex on the woman in the car, that she then had sex with Vicente and performed oral sex on him. Hickey said she had sex with him at his then-address, performed oral sex on him and Zolfaghari and had sex with Vicente.
Vicente told gardai that the woman performed oral sex on Hickey in the car, then he had sex with her. He said he had sex with the woman at Hickey’s home, where there was also sexual interactions between the woman and the other two men.
Zolfaghari also told gardai that the woman performed oral sex on Hickey in the car, then Vicente had sex with her. In relation to the house, Zolfaghari said the woman had sex with Vicente and performed oral sex on him and Hickey.
He also accepted that he had recorded the videos.
Each man told gardai that the woman consented to sexual activity in the car and later in the house. They said the woman was saying ‘no’ in the 30-second clip to Hickey’s request for anal sex.
Vicente’s phone was seized after he suggested in garda interviews that there was a third video, but no other recordings were found following an extensive analysis of phones belonging to the three men.
The court heard this analysis showed communication between the men following the searches of their homes, which included a version of events that night.
This version of events was also re-circulated before their interviews on September 9, 2020. Det Gda Mostyn agreed with Mr Justice Burns’ suggestion that the men’s accounts to gardai were similar to this circulated version of events.
Det Gda Mostyn agreed with defence counsel for the three men that their clients were co-operative with the investigation.
He accepted a suggestion from Padraig Dwyer SC, for Hickey, that his client was “enthusiastic” to meet gardai for interview and that Hickey’s previous conviction for assault causing harm dates back to events in 2009.
Det Gda Mostyn agreed with Garret Baker SC, for Vicente, that his client’s vehicle was seized during the search of his home. It was further accepted that Vicente’s admission that sex had taken place was important to the prosecution case, though he claimed it was consensual.
The garda also agreed there is no evidence that Vicente shared the video clips and he was not part of the WhatsApp exchange between Hickey and Zolfaghari.
Det Gda Mostyn told Seamus Clarke SC, for Zolfaghari, that his client’s admissions during interview were valuable to the prosecution case, though he said it was consensual.
Mr Dwyer suggested to the court that this offence is “out of character” for Hickey, who is a hardworking individual and supportive of his family. Hickey is doing well in custody and intends to continue his engagement with the fitness industry while there.
He asked the court to treat his client as someone with no relevant offending in his past who has made a contribution to his family and community. He asked the court to consider suspending part of the sentence to encourage rehabilitation.
Mr Baker said his client has set up a number of businesses since moving to Ireland. Vicente’s parents are elderly and have health issues, with Mr Baker suggesting it is possible his client “may never see his parents in person again”.
He said his client is doing well in custody.
Mr Clarke noted that Zolfaghari has no previous convictions and has not come to garda attention since this incident. He said his client’s parents moved to Ireland from Iran over 40 years ago and Zolfaghari took over running a restaurant after his father experienced health issues.
He said it goes against his client that he took the videos, but asked the court to take into account that Zolfaghari was only convicted of one offence at one location.
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