A man appeared in court last week for sexually assaulting a woman while carrying out maintenance work at her home.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before Judge Kevin Staunton at an in-camera (closed to public) sitting of Waterford District Court last month. He pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault, contrary to Section 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act.
The court heard that in late 2023, a woman reported to Gardaí that a man who was carrying out maintenance work at her home in Waterford had sexually assaulted her. The woman told Gardaí that the man, identified as the accused, asked for her help with a part of the work.
As this was happening, the accused reached over and touched her breast and nipple, before saying ‘nice titty.’
The court was told that the accused said ‘I shouldn’t have done that’, and texted the woman afterwards in an attempt to apologise, indicating that he could not explain his actions.
It was heard that the woman was able to get away to a neighbours house on the day of the incident, but now cannot be alone in the house with anyone doing maintenance work.
It was noted in court that the man has no previous convictions.
Acting for the defendant, solicitor Ken Cunningham told the court that at the time, his client was going through the ‘stress’ of a break-up, and has come to no Garda attention since the offence occurred in 2023.
The solicitor highlighted that his client texted the woman afterwards to apologise and wrote a letter of apology to the court, in which he said there “no excuse for his behaviour” and it was “totally out of order.”
The accused also brought €500 in compensation with him to court, in an “acknowledgement of his wrongdoing,” Mr Cunningham said. The solicitor concluded by emphasising how his client has never appeared in court for anything previously, and stated that he believes the accused does not fall into the category of someone who is at risk of re-offending.
Judge Staunton decided to put the matter back for a Probation report to be prepared. A member of the Probation service who was present in court said this would take 12 weeks to complete, given the nature of the offence.
Funded by the Court Reporting Scheme Robyn Power
