A young jockey with a promising career in England was given a three-year suspended sentence yesterday for sexually assaulting a woman and knocking her unconscious in a Co Waterford town two years ago.
The defendant, aged 20, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to sexually assaulting the woman, now aged 20, in a secluded area in a Co Waterford town on August 15th, 1995. He also admitted assaulting her, occasioning actual bodily harm.
Mr Justice Brian McCracken imposed the suspended term on condition the jockey pay £1,000 immediately "as a gesture of his contrition" to the victim and a similar sum in six months. The defendant also undertook not to have any contact with the victim or her family and to keep the peace in both Ireland and Britain for three years.
The victim was in court to hear the sentence. She had not been present in court on Thursday and the judge's decision had been postponed overnight to clarify if she would accept the payment.
Mr Anthony Sammon SC, prosecuting, said she had indicated she would accept the money but not on the basis that it was "compensation" because this implied it was adequate.
Mr Justice McCracken said the payment did not preclude the victim from taking a civil action for damages.
He said the offence was very serious and there could be no justification for it. The victim had been left with serious physical and psychological injuries.
He said but for extenuating circumstances he would have imposed the three-year sentence. However, it was probably a "once-off" incident which was fuelled by alcohol.
On Thursday, a garda told Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC, defending, that the defendant was a young jockey who had been working in England. He had no previous convictions and the offence seemed out of character.
The court heard that the defendant knocked the victim unconscious after she resisted his attempts to "go all the way".
The victim told gardai that she met the defendant, who she knew, outside a pub in the town at closing time. He told her, she said, that he was anxious to have full sexual intercourse with her.
They moved to an area which was known to be used by courting couples. He again asked her to "go all the way" and opened her bra and fondled her breasts. When she protested, he punched her in the face. She screamed and he said he would kill her. He squeezed her neck and she went unconscious when she hit her head off a hard surface. Other people were walking by and the defendant ran off. She spent 10 days in hospital.