A 60-year-old man with a Navan address has been jailed for eight years at Trim Circuit Court for sexual assault on a woman with a learning disability. Kevin White, Boyerstown, Navan was said by the presiding judge as having taken advantage of a “vulnerable and therefore, a protected person” despite having been warning by Gardai to stay away from her. He ignored that warning and went back to her house and sexually assaulted her. The defendant had pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual assault between February and May 2021 and February and March 2022. The victim expressed a wish to retain her anonymity but wanted the defendant named.
Detective Garda Rachel Carr told the court that the woman in the case was diagnosed with a mild learning disability but was a very active woman living an independent life in her own house for a number of years. In 2021 she had made a complaint to her social worker who in turn contacted Detective Garda Donovan. The complainant told how she had met a man in a store in Navan and how he had come to her home and had sexual intercourse. The complainant had taken a photograph of the man and noted his car registration number.
The defendant was identified and invited to the Garda station in May 2021 where it was explained to him the difficulties the woman had. The detective said he appeared genuinely surprised at the woman’s difficulties. Matters rested there, the Garda said. However, in March 2022 the woman contacted one of her support workers and said that the man “was back”. Detective Donovan met the woman who told her she had had sexual intercourse with him a number of weeks previously.
He related how he had brought “a condom and a thong” to her house. Detective Garda Donovan met the accused at a location in Navan where he was reported to have met the woman. He was about to get into his vehicle and was approached. He told the Garda that he had just said hello to the woman.
In May 2022 the woman was interviewed and she gave details of two incidents. In one incident she related how she was at a store in Navan and the accused asked her if she would like a lift and she said “no” and that he had shouted at her. She was not sure whether it was on that day or the following day the accused came to her house. She lied to him and said she had somebody in the house.
The court was told that on a separate day he had presented himself at her house and “essentially pushed his way in”. He had started kissing her. They went to the bedroom where they had sexual intercourse. She had told him he was hurting her. When they had finished he asked her if she had enjoyed it and she said she had not. Detective Garda Donovan met the accused at Trim Garda Station and told him to stay away from the woman. He admitted ejaculating onto the woman’s stomach but denied sexual intercourse.
In a victim impact statement the woman said she fell into depression after the incidents and had difficulty with eating and sleeping. She had not told her parents because she wanted to protect them. The last two years had been very stressful for her but she was now back taking part in normal activities.
Defending senior counsel Kathleen Leader with barrister Shane Kelly (instructed by solicitor Miriam Regan) said her client had no previous convictions. He was someone who had done his Intermediate Certificate exam and started an apprenticeship as a mechanic. He had left Ireland for a time but returned and had worked for a commercial repair business for 35 years. There was no explanation that could be offered for his behaviour. In mitigation she offered the fact that accused had no previous convictions and had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity thus saving the victim of having to give evidence and being cross-examined.
Judge John Martin said that the act of engaging in a sexual act with a protected person was a most serious offence. The accused had engaged in two separate acts, once in May 2021 and again in March 2022. In the first offence he had followed the woman to her home and sought sexual intimacy with her and she refused. “You left but very worryingly you return the following day and got what you wanted, namely sexual intercourse. This demonstrates to me a clear degree of premeditation and persistence which is alarming”.
It must have been apparent to him on first meeting the victim that she had certain difficulties. The Gardai had warned him to stay away from her. Ten months later, despite the warning from the Gardai, he had called again to the woman’s house – another alarming feature of the case – and this time with a condom and a thong “which I gather you wore”, and he once again had sexual intercourse with the woman. This was a seriously aggravating feature of the case and again showed a malicious intent on his part to take advantage of a vulnerable and protected person.
On one of the charges before the court the judge sentenced accused to six and a half years imprisonment and eight years on the second charge, the sentences to be served concurrently. He suspended the last 12 months of the eight-year term. He also ordered the accused not to contact the woman and her family, to engage with the Probation Service, and to enter a bond to keep the peace on his release.
