Guilty of sexual assault of colleague on night out

A COUNTY Meath man has been given a suspended sentence after sexually assaulting his co-worker after a night out.

The 35 year old was in Trim Circuit Court on 4th December charged with sexual assault.

Judge John Martin told the accused the victim in this case has changed following this incident “and he has to live with the consequences of that, because of what you did to him”.

Garda Gerry Goldbrick told the court on 12th August last year the accused and the victim were coming home together from a night out. The injured party was very intoxicated and his girlfriend was driving him and the accused when he asked her to pull over.

The victim was getting sick when the accused walked around to him and put pressure on his back. The victim had his elbow on his chest trying to get up when the accused pulled down his trousers and ripped his underwear before putting a finger in his anus. He shouted for him to stop and get off him when his girlfriend got out of the car saying to leave him alone. The accused stopped before the victim was assisted into the car.

They continued to drive home when they stopped at the accused's house. The injured party got out and was urinating against a wall when the accused came over and grabbed him by the shoulders and dry humped him. He was pushed away and told to go home before he walked off. The victim got back in the car and shortly after he broke down telling his girlfriend what happened.

The court heard the accused texted the victim the morning after making numerous attempts to contact him, saying he was sorry and wanted to explain. Defending Barrister David Staunton told the court following the incident when the accused texted the victim he apologised saying “I'm so f**king sorry for what happened, I don't even have the words”.

Garda Goldbrick told the court he was arrested on 27th September last year and when the allegations were put to him he said it was “schoolyard play” and was attempting to give him a wedgie. He denied putting fingers in his anus and said it was nothing malicious. A signed guilty plea was given in Trim District Court.

A victim impact statement read to the court said a day has not gone by where he has not thought about the incident. It said the accused “took something from me” and the victim blamed himself and he “couldn't wrap my head around the fact I didn't defend myself” but later found that was a natural response. He has not had a drink all year because he feels he can’t be vulnerable or relaxed. He still gets nightmares “waking up tense like something has gone wrong”. He wonders if developing a friendship “is worth the risk” after what happened and “I didn’t ask for this”.

Defending Barrister Staunton told the court the accused accepts responsibility for what happened and a psychiatric report showed insight and remorse for his actions.

He lost his job since the incident and now works as a night porter.

The court heard he lost two close friends who died due to suicide in 2017 and 2019 and his father died in 2019, leading to a self destructive period of drugs and alcohol.

After hearing the case was being sent to Circuit Court he contemplated self harm.

The defence told the court “it was the behaviour that was reprehensible for all the reasons we know” and it was a lapse with no underlying motivations.

A sum of €3,000 in compensation was offered by the accused which the victim refused and a letter of apology was shown to the court. He has gone to a therapy course and he is willing to engage with a London-based group that specialises in alcohol abuse.

Judge Martin took into consideration the victim was extremely intoxicated and was getting sick “when you struck, when you seized the opportunity”. The judge also said this was done by a “person in a position of trust”.

The judge accepted he co-operated with gardai but also that he called it schoolyard banter which it “was anything but”. He also accepts the accused is apologetic.

The accused was given a two year prison sentence suspended for two years. He is to remain drug and alcohol free, make no contact with the victim or his family for three years, and that he stays on the sex offender register.

The judge said being on the sex offender register and losing his job is a “penalty in itself”.