Hazel Behan, who was 21-years-old at the time of the attack, revealed that she was living on her own for the first time while she worked abroad as a children's rep in a holiday resort.
"There was a man dressed in all black… with a really big machete knife. And he was calling me by my name"
Speaking to the radio host of RTE 2fm, she said: "I loved it; I really enjoyed the freedom of being independent… but I felt as if somebody had been in my room.
"I kind of wrote it off a me being nervous… but hindsight is a great thing."
One night, after an argument with her boyfriend, she walked back home alone and fell asleep, fully clothed.
All of a sudden, she woke up to someone calling her name - and was horrified to find a masked man in her room.
She said: "There was a man dressed in all black… with a really big machete knife. And he was calling me by my name."
He dragged her to her kitchen and tied her to the kitchen counter, before setting up a video camera.
He then took out a bag of whips and chains, before using a pair of scissors to cut her clothes off.
She said: “When he asked me if I was afraid, I said I wasn’t.
“[But] I was shaking uncontrollably."
She continued: “I knew from things he was saying and doing that he didn’t like girls.
“He made comments about my weight, how I looked, how ugly and fat I was. He was out to inflict pain on a girl. He wanted to make me suffer.”
He was out to inflict pain on a girl. He wanted to make me suffer"
The horrifying ordeal lasted four hours - and, when Hazel went to the police, she was subjected to truly 'degrading' treatment.
She said candidly: “They took pictures of me as I stood naked in a star jump.
“I believe they could have done it better. That was the most degrading thing, not something I needed at that time.
“I don’t think it was taken as seriously as it should have been. I think they wanted to protect the holiday industry – they didn’t want it to be known that this happened in a holiday resort.”
Police asked her what she had been wearing, whether she had been drunk, and whether she had invited the man back to her room.
Her rapist was never found.
You can listen to the interview below: