A claim by a serial sex offender that he couldn't access sufficient therapy in prison and later went on to viciously rape a woman in Co Tipperary has been rejected as "completely untrue".

David Power (27) of Brittas, Thurles, was jailed for life on Monday after pleading guilty to raping a woman in Supermacs in Nenagh on 28 January 2007. He was previously jailed twice for aggravated sexual assault.

Power told the court he had tried to get a place on a number of treatment programmes but had not succeeded. His mother Elizabeth wept as she told judge Paul Carney her son had tried and failed to get help for his behaviour. He was imprisoned between 2001 and 2004 for two separate aggravated sexual assaults against women and has been in jail since 2 December 2008 for the rape he carried out at the fastfood restaurant.

However, a senior prison source said Power was offered a transfer to Arbour Hill prison in 2003 to participate in its intensive sex offenders treatment programme but turned it down. "In October 2003, he decided he didn't want to participate in [the] programme. From 2002 to 2004, he accessed weekly sessions with the psychology services."

Power had applied to participate in the sex offenders programme in Arbour Hill in 2001 but was deemed unsuitable because of his age. It is understood he declined to take up the offer of a place on the programme two years later because he was satisfied with how his one-on-one therapy was progressing.

Speaking to the Sunday Tribune, Power's mother said her son wanted treatment and she intended to request her son be transferred from Portlaoise to Arbour Hill immediately. She said her son has indicated he may harm himself in prison. "I asked the governor in Limerick [last year] could he be moved to Arbour Hill and he said he put it in his notes. I told him I want my son to get therapy."