A courier who sexually assaulted a woman after she accepted a lift on his motorcycle outside a pub has been jailed for 18 months by Mr Justice Carney at the Central Criminal Court.
Edward McDonnell (40), Brookview Lawns, Tallaght, was convicted by a jury on October 12th, after a four-day trial, of sexually assaulting the woman, a journalist, and assault causing her harm, iApril 1999.
The jury, which spent one night in a hotel, deliberated for almost 5½ hours before reaching a 10-2 majority guilty verdict on both charges.
Mr Justice Carney said he did not understand "how a journalist on one of the principal tabloid newspapers could be so unstreetwise as to jump on to the passenger seat of a complete stranger's motorcyle and head for the Dublin Mountains", but that did not afford any mitigation to McDonnell.
He said McDonnell's offences were at the lower end of the scale of matters normally dealt with by the Central Criminal Court but he might have carried them much further if she had not got away.
Mr Justice Carney certified him as a sex offender with the direction that he underwent 12 months post-release supervision. He would take into consideration his certification as a sex offender in imposing an 18 month-sentence on each count to run concurrently. He added that McDonnell would get credit for nearly 14 months he had spent in custody.
Earlier, the victim told Mr Justice Carney her action in taking a lift from McDonnell had been due to "naivety". McDonnell's attack on her had caused her to put important things in her life on hold.
Det Garda James Murphy told Ms Isobel Kennedy SC, prosecuting, that McDonnell had eight previous convictions for larceny, burglary and road traffic offences. He agreed with Mr Mark de Blacam SC, defending, that none of McDonnell's previous conviction involved violence or sexual offences.
The jury had heard the victim had been drinking with colleagues in Brady's pub before she left alone at 11 p.m. to wait for a taxi. After some time she accepted a lift to Rathfarnham from McDonnell. She said the man told her his name was Tony and he was a courier. She described him as in his late 20s, wearing a black jacket and having short, light hair. When she realised they were on a motorway she asked the man to turn back. He said there was something wrong with the bike and parked by a gate leading into a field. She told Ms Kennedy he held her arms to her side and tried to kiss her. She told him he "had the wrong end of the stick" before he forced her to the ground, sitting on top of her with his knees at either side of her arms. He then ripped her blouse and bra and squeezed her roughly. "I pleaded with him to stop and told him he was a nice guy and didn't need to do that. He seemed confident and said, 'you didn't just get on my bike for a lift home' and that he was going to give me what I had gone with him for." She managed to get away and stop a passing car.