A man convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in an Athlone supermarket queue was sentenced to six months in jail, but had it suspended for two years in the District Court after he paid €1,000 compensation to his victim.
“What happened to you, I’m not measuring in cash, but suggesting it as a gesture of his remorse,” Judge Seamus Hughes said to the victim.
The girl was buying sweets in an Athlone supermarket last June when Andrzeje Wilczek (35), with an address in Baylough, Athlone, approached from behind and touched the girl, who was wearing a skirt with tights, in the upper thigh area.
As Wilczek was pleading not guilty, his victim was required to give evidence , and did so with her mother alongside.
The judge said that she was a very credible witness.
The judge convicted. Wilczek but allowed for the offer of compensation, saying:
“I don’t want to send a non-national to an Irish prison for a sexual offence.”
The defendant will also spend five years on a sex offenders’ register.
“As a judge and a father, I sympathise with you,” Judge Hughes said to the victim.