A WICKLOW MAN who sexually assaulted his teenage daughter’s best friend at the end of a barbeque in his home 11 years ago has been jailed for 18 months.

The 56-year-old man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was convicted of sexual assault by the unanimous verdict of a jury in a four-day trial at Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court which concluded in March 2023.

The accused, who was described as a “predator” by his victim, had pleaded not guilty to the offence which had occurred in his home at a location in Co Wicklow on 26-27 April, 2014.

At a sentencing hearing this week, Detective Garda Neil Doyle said the victim, who was aged 18 at the time, had gone to her friend’s house for the party during which she had consumed some alcohol.

At the end of the night after her friend had gone to bed and she was sitting at a table in the kitchen, Det Garda Doyle said the accused had placed his left hand down the back of her jeans and used his right hand to feel her bare breast.

The court heard that the man had also unsuccessfully attempted to place his hand down the front of the teenager’s jeans before she got up and went to the bathroom and subsequently went to a friend’s house.

Det Garda Doyle said the incident had taken place while the accused’s wife was also present in the kitchen.

He told prosecution counsel, James Kelly BL, that the defendant had denied the allegation of sexual assault after the matter was first reported to gardaí in April 2019.

In a victim impact statement, the woman, now aged 29, said reporting the assault was one of the hardest things she ever had to do but she believed in justice and expressed hope that it would also encourage others.

She accused the defendant of acting out of his “sexual greed” and targeting her because she was his daughter’s best friend as well as thinking that she was drunk.

The court heard that her friend had supported her over what had happened.

In a powerfully delivered statement, the woman said she felt she had caused drama between their families but now knew she was not to blame.

She also criticised the accused for making comments about her and her body and telling his own daughter that she should try and look more like her friend.

“He thought it was okay to make a comment about a woman’s body,” she added.

The woman said everything the man had said about the incident was “entirely false.”

She claimed he had also verbally assaulted her and tried to blackmail his own daughter.

The court heard he would subsequently stick up his fingers in her direction and stare at her when they subsequently met outside in public.

The woman said her attacker was a “predator” whom she believed would do the same thing again “if given the chance.”

She also described feeling sick about having to come to court for his trial and how she had suffered from thoughts of suicide, flashbacks and post-traumatic stress disorder.

“A sexual assault stays with you for the rest of your life,” she observed.

The court heard that the accused man, who had no prior convictions, and his wife had sold their home and moved to the west of Ireland after a number of incidents at their house including one of criminal damage after “word had got out” about the assault.

Defence counsel, Colman FitzGerald SC, said the accused now accepted the jury’s verdict and wished to express his shame and apologise for his actions.

He acknowledged that the evidence that both the man and his wife had given at the trial about the girl exposing her breasts had not been accepted by the jury.

Mr FitzGerald said the offence was “completely out of character to the life he had lived.”

Pleading for leniency, he pointed out that the man acted as a carer for his wife who has a genetic disorder, while also claiming his offence was “at the lower end of the spectrum.”

Judge Patrick Quinn said he considered the accused’s claims that the incident had never occurred and that the girl who was drunk had exposed her breasts as an aggravating factor in the case.

“How different the story is now with [the accused] accepting the verdict of the jury,” the judge remarked.

Addressing the victim, Judge Quinn said she had every reason to be proud of herself and for fighting for justice as she had done nothing wrong and was “a truthful witness.”

He noted she had described feeling broken again by the court process at having to relive her trauma and being called a liar.

The judge said the accused had been in a position of authority “like a father figure” to the girl on the night of the incident.

He acknowledged that the man and his wife had suffered a form of extrajudicial punishment over what had happened but said he had still committed “an ugly, unwarranted assault.”

Sentencing the accused to two years in prison, Judge Quinn suspended the final six months on condition that the man commits himself to keeping the peace on his release.