A Dublin man has been jailed for four years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for the sexual assault of a young woman who was walking home from work.
Stephen O'Reilly (23), Whitechurch Park, Rathfarnham, drove up beside the woman in Milltown and tried to drag her into the car but she had seen him approach and got away after a struggle. Judge Frank O'Donnell noted the victim was unable to sleep or go to work for a week after the attack.
O'Reilly was convicted by a jury in November last year of sexually assaulting her on June 7th, 1999. He admitted the larceny of a car on June 4th, 1999, and that he had assaulted the woman but he denied the sexual nature of the attack. He was also sentenced to three years for stealing the car which he used in this offence.
He was given another four years for the burglary on another date of keys of a car from a house in Churchtown and the theft of this car. All the sentences are to run concurrently.
The court heard O'Reilly was given a car on June 4th by Tower Motors in Arklow. He was to take it for a test drive but disappeared with it. He was also sentenced to four years for entering the home of Mr David O'Connell on Nugent Road, Churchtown, and taking a set of keys worth €50.
O'Reilly told Judge O'Donnell after sentencing he had spent 13 months in custody already and this was the worst time of his life. He said he had matured a lot and had already paid for what he had done.
Mr Raymond Farrell, defending, urged the court to consider suspending part of this sentence but Judge O'Donnell said he had the public to think about.