Przemyslaw Jakubowski: 11 convictions after Kanturk rape attack

The Polish national had four convictions in Poland, including attempted rape and robbery, before arriving in Ireland. Months later he ambushed a woman in a public toilet, subjected her to approximately 40 minutes of sexual violence and threatened to kill her.

Published 28 July 2026 · Remigration Ireland case ledger

11 countsUnanimous verdicts

15 yearsPrison sentence

4 priorsReported in Poland

Appeal lostConvictions stand

Przemyslaw Jakubowski arrived in Ireland from Poland in early 2010. Within months, he committed an attack that the sentencing judge described as one of the most serious rape cases to come before the courts in the recent past. The final record is not merely a newspaper allegation: a jury returned 11 unanimous guilty verdicts, a 15-year term followed and the Court of Criminal Appeal later dismissed his challenge to the search that produced critical evidence.

An afternoon ambush in Kanturk

On 9 March 2010, a woman running errands entered public toilets in Kanturk, County Cork. Jakubowski grabbed her from behind while she was drying her hands, put her in a headlock, forced her into a cubicle and locked the door. He pushed her head against the wall, threatened to kill her and subjected her to repeated rape and sexual assault during an ordeal lasting approximately 40 minutes.

After Jakubowski left, the woman escaped, flagged down a passing car and alerted gardaí. Investigators recovered powerful forensic and circumstantial evidence: her DNA was found under his fingernails and on a blood-stained item of clothing recovered from his home, while his DNA and fingerprints were linked to a beer can left at the scene. CCTV also recorded him buying matching tights and lager.

Eleven convictions, not every charge alleged

Jakubowski denied the charges and stood trial at the Central Criminal Court. On 18 May 2011, after a 12-day trial and approximately three hours of deliberation, the jury convicted him unanimously on 11 counts encompassing rape, sexual assault, false imprisonment and threats to kill. One oral-rape count was removed from the jury by direction of the judge.

That distinction matters. The indictment contained 12 counts and reporting listed several forms of rape, assault and imprisonment, but the available public record does not supply a dependable count-by-count verdict schedule. This case file therefore records the four offence categories expressly attributed to the 11 convictions rather than treating every original allegation as a conviction.

A serious record before he reached Ireland

At sentencing, Inspector Declan O'Sullivan told the court that Jakubowski had four previous convictions in Poland, including attempted rape and robbery. Reports identified him as a Polish national who had arrived in Ireland earlier in 2010 and was doing occasional construction work. RTÉ described him as having been in the country for only a few months when he attacked the woman.

The published record does not provide the exact dates, sentences or complete offence descriptions for all four Polish convictions. It does establish the attempted-rape and robbery history given in evidence at sentencing. No reviewed source says Jakubowski entered unlawfully, sought asylum or became subject to a deportation order, so this report makes none of those claims.

Fifteen years and a failed appeal

In late June 2011, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy imposed a 15-year prison term and ordered that Jakubowski be registered as a sex offender. RTÉ reported that the judge considered a term between 17 and 20 years but reduced it because imprisonment would be more isolating for a foreign national without roots in Ireland. The court heard that Jakubowski continued to reject the jury's verdict.

Jakubowski later challenged the validity of the warrant used to search his home, arguing that the evidence obtained through it should have been excluded. On 31 July 2014, the Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed the appeal in The People (DPP) v Jakubowski [2014] IECCA 28. It upheld the warrant and the admissibility of the evidence, leaving the convictions and sentence standing.

Case chronology

Before Ireland: Four Polish convictions are recorded at sentencing, including attempted rape and robbery.
Early 2010: Jakubowski arrives in Ireland from Poland and undertakes occasional construction work.
9 March 2010: He ambushes, confines, threatens and sexually attacks a woman in Kanturk public toilets.
18 May 2011: A Central Criminal Court jury returns 11 unanimous guilty verdicts after a 12-day trial.
Late June 2011: The court imposes 15 years and sex-offender registration.
31 July 2014: The Court of Criminal Appeal dismisses his search-warrant challenge; the convictions and sentence stand.

A transparent cost illustration

The Irish Prison Service reported that an available staffed prison space cost an average of €99,072 in 2024, excluding capital expenditure. Applying that later system-wide benchmark to the full nominal 15-year sentence produces a conditional illustration of €1,486,080.

This is not an invoice or an offender-specific audited total. It assumes the entire nominal sentence at a constant 2024 rate; actual time in custody can differ because of pre-sentence detention, remission or release, while annual costs also change over time. The figure excludes Garda investigation, prosecution, courts, criminal legal aid, victim support and medical services, post-release supervision and capital expenditure.

What this record establishes

This case documents a stark sequence without requiring speculation about immigration status: four convictions in Poland, including attempted rape; arrival in Ireland; a prolonged sexual attack within months; 11 unanimous convictions; a 15-year sentence; and an unsuccessful appeal. The warning lies in that adjudicated record and in how little time separated his arrival from the attack.