Tasas Ruzas: 33 Irish convictions before rape and anal rape
A woman who had met Lithuanian national Tasas Ruzas the previous day escaped from a locked bathroom, hid in a doorway and called 999 after he beat and raped her. The jury convicted him of rape, anal rape and threatening to kill or cause serious harm. His record already included 33 convictions in Ireland and further convictions in Lithuania and Britain.
The attack and escape
The woman met Ruzas in Dublin city centre on 3 January 2025. Court reporting states that they used crack cocaine and tablets and initially had consensual sex. Consent to one act did not extend to what followed. During an argument, Ruzas threatened to cut her face off and eat it, punched her in the face, raped her and anally raped her while she begged him to stop.
She reached a toilet, locked herself inside and called emergency services. She then ran from the property, hid in the doorway of a nearby house and called 999 again. Although she could not identify her location, an ambulance found her and brought her to hospital. The violence fractured the area around her left eye.
The verdicts must be stated precisely
Ruzas admitted assault causing harm but denied the sexual offences and other charges. After trial, the Central Criminal Court jury convicted him of rape, anal rape and making a threat to kill or cause serious harm. He was acquitted of two other counts: another assault-causing-harm allegation and another threat allegation. Those acquittals are not counted as crimes in this file.
The sentencing judge said Ruzas had not accepted the jury's verdicts and showed no remorse for the sexual offending. His apology related to the assault he had admitted, not to the rapes proved by the jury.
A criminal record across three jurisdictions
The court heard that Ruzas had 33 previous convictions in Ireland. The reported categories include theft, assault, dangerous driving, drink driving, threatening and abusive behaviour, violent behaviour in a Garda station and public intoxication. The published account does not provide every date, count and sentence, so this file does not invent a fuller schedule.
He also had Lithuanian District Court convictions for robbery and theft, and British convictions between 2007 and 2013 including assaulting a police officer, car theft, grievous bodily harm, dangerous driving and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. That record is reported sentencing evidence; no reviewed source supplies a complete certified foreign-conviction table.
Nine and a half years plus supervision
Mr Justice Paul McDermott placed the rape offences at a ten-year headline. He imposed nine and a half years, suspending the final six months on conditions. Ruzas must engage with the Probation Service, keep the peace and have no contact with the victim. Four years of post-release supervision were also ordered.
The mitigation was limited. The court noted some engagement with addiction treatment and prison education. Ruzas had told gardaí that he binge drank, lost control and could not remember the assaults, while accepting that he must have caused the injuries. Intoxication did not erase the jury's findings.
The cost boundary
Applying the Irish Prison Service's 2024 average annual cost of an available, staffed prison space, €99,072, to nine and a half years gives €941,184. This is a nominal capacity benchmark, not a Ruzas-specific invoice or a prediction of time actually served. The suspended portion, remission, sentence commencement and future administration can affect custody.
The figure excludes Garda investigation, ambulance and hospital treatment, forensic work, prosecution, defence legal aid, courts, prison healthcare, probation and victim supports. No reliable case-specific total for those services was located.
Immigration facts and limits
The sentencing coverage identifies Ruzas as Lithuanian. Lithuania is an EU member state. The record reviewed here does not establish his entry date, residence history, citizenship, any public-security removal assessment or any removal order. A conviction does not by itself prove that a particular immigration outcome has occurred. What is established is that repeated offending in Ireland preceded the sexual violence for which he is now serving a lengthy sentence.
Sources
- RTÉ, sentencing report, 4 June 2026 — verdicts, offence, prior record, victim impact and sentence.
- BreakingNews.ie, 4 June 2026 — corroborating court report.
- Waterford News & Star, 4 June 2026 — syndicated sentencing account and foreign-record detail.
- Sex Offenders Act 2001 — statutory context for supervision.
- Irish Prison Service Annual Report 2024 — staffed-space cost benchmark.
Record checked: 31 July 2026. The acquitted counts are disclosed, the prior-record categories remain attributed to sentencing coverage, and no removal or present-location claim is made.