A NIGERIAN student who sexually attacked an English tourist in a Cork hostel last April was sentenced to three years in prison by Judge Patrick Moran in the Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.
Jarleth Onyeulo (33), from Kalibar, Nigeria, who was attending a business and marketing diploma course in UCC, was found guilty by a jury last Friday of sexually assaulting the 22 year old woman.
Judge Moran yesterday apologised to the woman, who came for a holiday and was "subjected to a most violent and frightening attack". Onyeulo's strong sexual desires were a motive for the assault and it was fortunate the night porter came to her assistance or the charges could be more serious.
He told Onyeulo he "should have respect for our hospitality and our standards of behaviour and not abuse them".
In evidence, the woman, who is the manager of an English equestrian yard, told how her bedroom door opened and Onyeulo was standing there. He demanded that she should go with him and he jumped over the beds. He cornered her and tried to pull off her clothes, ripping off her pants and groping between her legs.
She escaped into the corridor screaming for help and he followed her, pulling her nightie and slapping and thumping her.
Mr Michael Galvin, the night porter in Isaacs Hostel, said he heard screams from the first floor and on running up saw the man holding the woman by her neck with her night dress pulled up. He was beating her.
When asked by gardai about the attack, Onyeulo said: "I wanted to have intercourse with her, what's wrong with that".
Garda Ted Murphy said the attack had a very traumatic effect on the woman and she was further traumatised by having to give evidence in court. She was very insecure in the company of strangers and had turned down two job offers, one in the US and one in Cork, because of this insecurity.
The court was told that Onyeulo had a psychotic collapse in the early 1990s in Nigeria and had recovered with medication. He resisted taking his tablets, which were found on him on the night of the assault, because he believed himself to be well.
Mr Sean O'Donobhain BL, defending, described the attack as "bizzare". He asked Judge Moran to suspend part of the sentence on condition the defendant would leave the country, but the judge, said this was not a matter for deportation. He refused leave to appeal against severity of sentence but agreed to review the sentence in January 1999.