A young man who sexually assaulted a woman he considered one of his closest friends after a night out has avoided going to jail.
The man, who is in his 30s and cannot be named, pleaded guilty to the charge when he appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court.
The court was told the pair had been out with other friends in Letterkenny in November, 2022 and had gone back to the woman’s home.
The woman put a blanket over her and lay down on a coach while the man sat down on another chair.
They began to chat but the woman told the man that she was tired and wanted to go to sleep.
In her statement to Gardai, the woman said she drifted off to sleep but awoke and remembered a sharp pain in her vagina and the man was on top of her.
The woman shouted at the man asking him “what the actual f***” (was he doing) and the pair sat staring at eachother for a period of time.
The man sat with his hands over his face and then left the house.
The victim woke the next morning with a flashback and texted the man.
She later said she felt a pain in her vagina and that it was like he was inside her but not fully inside her.
The man replied that he wasn’t thinking at the time and was such an asshole.
The woman texted back and asked him to explain why the person she trusted the most in the world would sexually assault her. She then told the man he was playing it down and that they were “through.”
She then made a complaint to the Gardai, the man was identified and was interviewed about the assault.
He initially denied that there was any penetration and said he was in the house and said he had grabbed her by the buttocks but then followed this up with an early plea to the charge.
The accused man took to the witness stand to apologise to his victim saying he could only offer his “sincerest apologies.”
He added that he doesn’t now deserve her trust and that he now knows she will never talk to him again despite talking to her every day adding that it has been so hard to lose the person that he could talk to.
He apologised again and added that he can’t justify anything that he did.
The man was accompanied to court by his parents and his sister.
Barrister for the accused, Ms Patricia McLaughlin, SC, said her client was in his 30s and has expressed his remorse and is in significant distress over what had happened.
He was assessed by the Probation Service, was fully engaged with the services and has been put at a low risk of reoffending.
She said he is from a very good family background and that his employer spoke very highly of him.
He was not deemed suitable for a sexual offending programme but is suitable for a community service programme.
Ms McLaughlin said that she knows this is a serious case but said that her client has tried to “put his best foot forward.”
She added the accused tried to text the woman and apologise and never tried to blame her in any way and accepts that he was completely in the wrong and is remorseful.
He is a first time offender who is unlikely to ever come before the courts again, she added.
She concluded that all of the evidence suggests this was a complete aberration on the night and that a custodial sentence for a man who has always been a good member of society with good social connections would not serve any benefit to the community.
Judge John Aylmer said this was a gross breach of trust of a close friend whom he took advantage of while she slept.
He said the digital penetration was of a very slight nature according to a nurse who examined the woman at the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit.
He did note that the man and woman had been intimate with eachother on a number of occasions before but she said she had no feelings for the man any more.
The Judge placed it in the mid range of such offences and one which merited a sentence of four years in prison before mitigation.
In mitigation, he said the accused had no previous convictions, had not come to Garda attention since, was very cooperative with Gardai and had entered a very early guilty plea.
Judge Aylmer said it is clear that both the accused and the woman were intoxicated and while that is never an excuse for what happened, it is an explanation for what happened adding “this was an intoxicated moment of madness on your behalf.”
He noted the Probation Services said he was at a low risk of reoffending and that there was no requirement to do a sex offender’s course.
Taking into account all of these factors, he said he was reducing the sentence to one of three years in prison.
The Judge said he then had to ask if part or all of that sentence could be suspended.
He said he proposed to suspend all of the sentence for a period of three years for him to go under the supervision of the Probation Service for the first 12 months.
He must also attend all appointments with the Probation Services, inform them of any change of address or contact details and to engage to complete offence-focused work.