A man who crept into a woman’s bed and sexually assaulted her during a family gathering in Co Donegal has received a suspended jail sentence and ordered to pay his victim €5,000.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity, appeared at Letterkenny District Court.
He faced one charge of sexually assaulting a woman at a location in Donegal in February 2020.
Garda Sergeant Gerard Dalton outlined the details of the incident.
The court was told that the victim and the accused man had both been at a family gathering at a house in Donegal.
The woman had gone upstairs to a bedroom with her young child but the child did not settle and was taken to another room by a relative.
The woman slept on in the bedroom alone.
However, some time later a man came into the room and got into the bed beside her while she slept.
He began grinding himself against her and kissing at her neck and attempting to pull the woman towards him.
Both were fully clothed during the incident, the court was told.
The woman told Gardai that she noticed someone was behind her in the bed and could feel him grinding into her with his crotch touching her backside.
She initially froze but then told the person to get out but when she got no response she shouted at the person to “get the f*** out.”
The person got up and walked out but did not speak and the woman said she recognised the man as he left the bedroom.
The victim said she lay in the bed and was upset and eventually went downstairs, called her partner and left the house with her baby.
The woman said she found bruising on the top of her back and also had a ‘hickey’ at the side of her neck.
Gardai were informed of the incident, the scene was preserved while statements and fingerprints were also taken.
The victim attended the Sexual Assault and Trauma Unit where photos and swabs were taken from her.
The woman also attended counselling sessions but that had to be discontinued because of the arrival of the Covid pandemic.
The accused man was arrested under the Criminal Law Act and taken to Letterkenny Garda Station where he was questioned and samples of his DNA were taken.
He was interviewed twice but said he had consumed a large quantity of alcohol and could not remember anything later in the evening.
He was shown a printout of a Facebook page on which he tried to message the victim but the man said again that he had no recollection of the events but said he could not believe that he had carried this out.
Details of swabs taken by the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit were sent to Forensic Science Ireland and were examined by Dr Charlotte Murphy, a forensic scientist.
Dr Murphy said she examined the victim’s dress and carried out DNA profiling of the dress and that sample matched the DNA of the accused.
She also examined DNA from the woman’s shoulder and it was a mix of DNA from a male and a female and that both the accused person’s DNA and the victim’s DNA were present in the profile.
Dr Murphy added that the evidence was very strong to support that the accused kissed the victim’s neck and shoulder rather that he did not.
Solicitor for the accused man, Mr Rory O’Brien, said his client has expressed deep remorse for what he had done and is acutely aware of the distress he has caused to the woman as well as the physical and emotional impact it has had on the woman.
He said the incident occurred under a significant amount of alcohol and that he was “devastated” to allow himself to get into such a state of inebriation.
Mr O’Brien added that that incident was completely out of character for his client and that his family did not recognise the person who had carried out such an incident.
The accused man, who wept during the hearing, was supported in court by his sister.
His solicitor added that this was an “aberration” for his client’s normal actions and that he now holds himself in deep shame, embarrassment and remorse.
However, Mr O’Brien pointed to the Probation and Welfare Report carried out on his client which he said was very favourable.
He added that the report underscores his client’s remorse, the steps he is taking to address his alcohol dependency by attending AA meetings daily and also the fact that he pleaded guilty and is also deemed as being at a low risk of reoffending.
Mr O’Brien added “The darkness that has followed him fro this case is ever present and he is trying his best to remedy the situation as best he can.”
He added that there is a significant fall-out within the family as a result of the incident.
The accused man’s solicitor pleaded with the court to take all these factors into account before sentencing adding “This is a very sad and troubling case but he has presented as a very different individual.”
Judge Eiteain Cunningham said this was indeed a very serious charge and that she had considered both the Probation Report and the Victim Impact Statement.
She noted the Probation Report is positive after the accused engaged fully with the Probation Services and had at all times displayed remorse towards his victim.
He had also been assessed and deemed of being of a low risk of reoffending and had no previous convictions of this nature apart from minor traffic offences.
The Judge said that in the circumstances she was going to impose a ten month prison sentence but suspend that sentence for 18 months on condition of the accused entering into a Section 99 to follow the terms of the conditions imposed by the Probation Services.
She also ordered the man to pay his victim the sum of €5,000 which was to be paid within the next 12 months.