A man has appeared in court charged with sexually assaulting his daughter’s partner at their child’s christening after-party.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at Letterkenny District Court charged with the offence.
The court was told that a number of people had been at the child’s christening and had gone back to a house party.
At 4.30am the victim’s father went downstairs in the house to check to see if everyone was okay.
However, when he looked through some glass doors into a sitting room area, he saw a man touching another man who was asleep on a sofa.
The man realised that it was his son’s girlfriend’s father and that he was rubbing his son’s penis through his trousers.
Garda Eoin Watters told the court that the man was shocked and shouted at the attacker to stop.
The man stopped and he apologised and fled through the back door of the house.
The following day the family decided that they would tell the couple what had happened.
The victim told his family that it was only then that he realised that his trousers were partially opened and that his belt was unbuckled.
On July 30th, 2018, the accused was arrested, taken to his nearest Garda station in Co Donegal and made partial admissions to the incident.
His solicitor, Mr Kieran O’Gorman, said there was a lot of drink taken at the party.
He said his client was in his 60s and had no previous convictions.
He added that the incident has affected himself and his family and the relationship between them.
“I’m sure it has,” replied Judge Paul Kelly.
He adjourned the case until April 6th for a probation and community service report.
However, he added “I’m not sure if restorative justice is an option here.”