Suspended sentence for man who molested woman during day time at Fleadh Cheoil

In the case, the west Clare man came up from behind the 44-year-old woman at High Street, Ennis at 1.30pm on August 16 last and put his hand up her dress and tugged at her underwear.

In sentencing the man, Judge Patrick Durcan said that “any citizen walking along a street is absolutely entitled to expect that they can so freely and safely and without any danger of being molested by someone and that is what happened in this case, the lady was molested by this man”.

The west Clare man pleaded guilty to the sexual assault of the woman at High Street, Ennis in the afternoon of the Wednesday of last August’s Fleadh Cheoil.

At Ennis District Court, Judge Durcan said: “This is an extremely serious matter. Citizens must be protected on the street without the fear of molestation.”

He pointed out that the assault was made during the Fleadh which he said “was a time of great joy in this town, a time of great renewal and great celebration”.

Judge Durcan said that the man already has a previous conviction for a similar offence from 2005.

Outlining the facts in the case Insp Tom Kennedy said that on August 16 last, the woman was enjoying the Fleadh on the streets of Ennis “when quite suddenly, she gets tugged from underneath her dress”.

Insp Kennedy said: “The woman becomes aware of a hand squeezing her bottom. She screams out as a result of this and luckily there are gardaí located nearby and they are alerted to what happened.”

Insp Kennedy said that in her statement, the woman said that immediately after the assault, the man was crouching down behind her trying to disguise himself with a baseball cap he was wearing.

In imposing his sentence, Judge Durcan said that he had strong regard for the victim impact statement made by the complainant and the impact the attack had on her.

In her victim impact statement, the woman said she has burnt all the clothes she was wearing when assaulted as she tries to recover from the attack.

In her statement, the woman said: “I still feel where the man's hand was despite burning every item of clothes I wore that day”.

The woman said that the assault "has changed my life and my daughter's life forever”.

She said: "I had never been on anti-depressants or sleeping tablets, but it was the only way I could function.”

She added: "I will never forget the look on my daughter's face when she saw me at the Garda station.”

Judge Durcan said that he would suspend the sentence as he was persuaded by the recommendations of the Probation Service and has ordered that the man remain under Probation Service supervision.