"My body was just rattling" - Kildare woman sexually assaulted in tattoo parlour

A Kildare woman who was sexually assaulted by a Laois piercing and tattoo artist says reporting the crime and pursuing a conviction is one of her proudest achievements.

Karen Kelly hopes to encourage other people who have been sexually assaulted to come forward and get justice after her experience at the hands of the predator who worked in Portlaoise.  

Karen was one of three victims Paul Kelleher (61) of Esker Gate, Mountmellick, was convicted of sexually assaulting. The former soldier, who was also convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage girl at his tattoo parlour, was sentenced to nine years in prison with the final year suspended for a year at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last April.

His offending took place at Newfaze Ink in Portlaoise on dates between August and December 2015 and in January 2018.

Karen, who is originally from Kildare, has been living in Laois for the past 22 years. She frequented Newfaze Ink in Portlaoise over the years for piercings and tattoos and it was there she had her sternum pierced.  

“He was in Rathdowney before he was here and he was here (Portlaoise) around 12 years,” she said. 

“He was the only one in town that classed himself as a master piercer. There is no-one else who can do that type of piercing,” said Karen. 

When she nicked her sternum piercing, Karen called in to the tattoo shop to see if it needed work. 

“He took me straight into a private kind of cubicle area and he kind of manipulated the whole situation from a completely normal conversation,” she said.

Karen said she “went into flight mode” when she was then sexually assaulted. “My body was just rattling, I couldn’t make sense of anything,” she recalled. 

She said she just wanted to leave but because she had work done she had asked if she owed him money. 

“He put his hand on my back and told me he loved his job and it was free,” she said. 

Karen knew she had been assaulted and she later told her daughter and her partner who both urged her to go to the gardaí. Six months after the assault, Karen went to the Garda Station in Portlaoise and reported the sexual assault. 

She admits that she was concerned that she wouldn’t be believed. “I was, because it was in my head for six months and I was like, little old me up against someone like that, I haven’t got a hope, so I kind of lost hope even before I went in,” she said. 

“The guard I got in there, she was fantastic,” Karen recalled. “I walked out of there knowing I was being believed and it was always a - he said, she said - situation,” Karen remarked. 

Although she knew she had been assaulted, Karen remained hesitant about pursuing the case.  “He was a reputable business man. My thought process was, I am a lone parent... I can’t take this man on,” she said.  

Despite her reservations, Karen had learned of the other victims and was comforted by the manner in which gardaí were treating the case. She said “you get strength in knowing you are not alone.” 

“Regardless of whether you can convince the jury or not, you do know the guards believe you, that’s massive,” she said. 

Although she was determined to see the case through, the reality of the process ahead came as a shock to Karen. When she learned that the DPP had decided to prosecute, Karen contacted her solicitor to find out about the process. 

“I ended up down at my doctor's door crying my eyes out and she had to give me a sedative to calm me down,” she recalled. 

Karen found the trial process and in particular cross examination in the witness box, particularly difficult. 

“I will tell you one thing. It was one of the most horrendous things. I would be a fairly straight out person. I talk about stuff, I’d be the first one, you can’t even mention certain words around me cause I would have a terrible potty mouth on me,” she says. 

“The humiliation process of it all when you are trying to convince 12 people that see this man as innocent of whatever and they are asking about your private areas. I had to describe my vagina and all of this, it is so humiliating,” Karen said. 

She said at one point the judge commented that she kept pointing towards her genital area when describing what had happened. “I was like, would you like me to draw you a diagram? And he was like, yeah.” So she said she had to produce  “a drawing like a five year old wouldn’t do” and it was passed around to a number of people in the courtroom.

Karen said she would be a strong person but the experience was still horrendous. She said another lady who was 21 at the time of the trial, and who had been only 14 when the offending occurred, had to endure the same process. 

“My heart went out to her,” Karen recalled.

Despite the ordeal, Karen is delighted she came forward and she said believes doing so will give more women the confidence to report such crimes. 

When asked how she would feel if she hadn’t decided to report Kelleher’s crimes, she said: “That would have eaten at me. That would have killed me. That would have killed me knowing that if I didn’t come forward that man would be free and god knows how many more women...” 

“It is probably one of the proudest moments of my life and the worst thing that has ever happened to me in my life. It is probably the best thing I have ever done in my life is put that man away and knowing that myself and the other women have actually stopped him in his path.” she said.  

She is delighted now that Kelleher’s “job and his business” are gone and so too is his opportunity to prey on women.  

“That is why I am able to speak now, I am not carrying any more of it, that’s why I put my name to it,” Karen said. 

On Monday, April 28, Kelleher was handed a sentence of nine years, with the final 12 months suspended on strict conditions.

He maintained his innocence and after the sentence was imposed Kelleher addressed the court to say he would be changing his legal team.

The court heard that the three victims wished for Kelleher to be named. In their victim impact statements, the complainants spoke of the profound effect of Kelleher's offending on their lives, including a lack of trust in male professionals, particularly men working in medical fields.

Kelleher was the joint owner and operator of Newfaze Ink. The court was told he had two previous convictions, including one for sexual assault in similar circumstances for which he received a four-year sentence, with the final two years suspended.