IT was something that had to be seen to be believed. Fifty or so Listowel locals filing past the broken victim of a sexual assault to shake hands with and embrace the man who broke her.

Some were openly crying and wiping their tears as they wished Danny Foley well just minutes before he was due to be sentenced, while others shook his hand and literally patted him on the back in a show of solidarity.

All the while, the woman he left bruised, scratched and semi naked beside a skip in a local car park in June 2008 cut a lonely figure in the front row of the public gallery as Foley's supporters piled into seats behind her.

With her head bowed, the mother-of-one gripped the hand of her counsellor from the Kerry Rape Crisis Centre, her other hand clutching her stomach.

It was a show of support for a convicted sex offender, that was at best extremely misguided and misjudged, and at worst gave two fingers to the man's victim.

But apparently, according to Foley's brother Tim, it wasn't orchestrated. It was, he said, a coincidence that all these people came to court the exact day Foley was due to be sentenced and all decided to go and shake his hand. None of those people however, (apart from immediate family) were in court when Foley was giving his evidence, or more importantly when details of the assault and its impact on his victim were being painfully detailed by the 24 year old.

To add insult to injury, this woman had to endure what she described as dirty looks and disapproving glances from some of the men and women who came to court, of their own volition, before then having to deliver an emotional victim impact statement that was greeted by sighs and tuts from some.

"I felt intimidated. When I went to the stand and started reading some of them looked away and paid no attention," she told the media at a press conderence on Saturday. "I heard mumbling and talking. They didn't want to hear my statement."

Then this woman had to wipe tears away as she heard a chip shop owner and local priest praise the character of the man in the dock. The man who was convicted of sexually assaulting her.

He was a man with the highest respect for women who didn't have an abusive bone in his body, family friend Fr Sean Sheehy told the court. Foley's former boss, Dermot O'Mahony, meanwhile, spoke of a polite, inoffensive, curteous man who was honest, reliable and whom he held in the highest esteem.

The actions of these people on Wednesday last, December 16, left Foley's victim feeling numb, she said. She likened the scene to a funeral home. Unfortunately, no one was sympathising with her.

"I have no words to describe how that made me feel. Even though my counsellor and sister were there with me I felt as low as possible," she said. "Some of them stared at me and gave me dirty looks as they walked past. It felt like a funeral home more than a court room.

"I was hurt and upset by this. I felt really low. I felt like crying. It felt like I was being told that I was in the wrong and I was not believed, even though he had been found guilty and I knew that he was the guilty person. I felt like the court room was full of people who supported him and were against me, as if I was on trial and I was the guilty person."

- MARISA REIDY mreidy@kerryman.ie