A man who raped a woman in her own home after he had posed as a taxi driver and picked her up has been jailed for 11 years.Costel Raducan (37) of High Street, Balbriggan, was convicted by a Central Criminal Court jury last month of burglary, rape and attempted anal rape at a location in Co Dublin on May 3rd, 2025.Passing sentence on Thursday Judge Paul Burns said it was an extremely disturbing case where a man “posing as a taxi driver” picked up the unsuspecting victim who was out with friends and, after driving her home, stalked the house until she was alone and vulnerable.“This is the stuff of nightmares,” the judge said.He said after the attack the victim was left alone and in shock. Gardaí launched an “impressive investigation” which included a “large trawl” of hours of CCTV which eventually led to Raducan’s arrest, the court heard.Raducan initially denied to gardaí that he had any interaction with the victim on the night and claimed he was at home. As evidence connecting his car with the woman’s home was presented to him he tried to construct a narrative to fit this evidence, the judge said.When investigators later confronted him with DNA evidence linking his semen to the crime Raducan claimed the woman had invited him into her home and consented to sex.The Romanian national, who has lived in Ireland since 2018, continues to deny the offences and does not accept the jury verdicts.The judge said there was a significant degree of premeditation in the offending and little in the way of mitigating factors before sentencing Raducan to 12 years imprisonment.He suspended the final year for a period of three years. In her victim impact statement the woman described how the attack had changed her life. She said she continued to experience fear and panic attacks.The court had heard that the victim was socialising with friends and afterwards they attempted to flag down a taxi. Raducan pulled in and they presumed it was a taxi, despite the car having no markings.Raducan drove the group to the woman’s home and refused an offer of payment. He remained outside the house for an estimated 3½ hours.The last of the woman’s friends left the house a little after 5am and she fell asleep on the sofa. She awoke to an unknown male standing over her. She told him to get out and she ran upstairs. She thought initially he had left and took out her phone but dropped it.Raducan pushed her face down into the pillow on the bed and raped her.In her victim impact statement, the woman told the court how she lived in fear after being attacked in her own home. She said her life had been turned upside down and she relied heavily on the support of friends and family.She said she also had to take time off work, which has impacted her career progression.She said the impact of this unprovoked and vicious attack on her in her own home will forever affect her life. She said that being viciously raped in her own home had left her traumatised and she will never feel fully safe again.“Someday he will get out but I have to live with this for the rest of my life,” she said. “What has been taken cannot be returned ... I still have my voice and today I am using it.”