RTE news : Former RTÉ journalist jailed for sexual assault

http://www.rte.ie/news/courts/2022/0726/1312299-courts-sentence/

49 comments

  1. That’s a strange one. Went back, engaged in foreplay, comfortable enough to go back to sleep after asking him to stop, met up with him afterwards and lodged a complaint a year later?

    There has to be more to this case. If she got straight up and left and went to the gaurds it would make more sense.

  2. Case should have been thrown out FFS. 15 months! While scum with 100+ convictions roam our streets. There is no justice in this country.

  3. Jesus, they really threw the book at him. 15 months for something which is arguably not a crime given the scenario. There really is no consistency in Irelands judicial system.

  4. Very odd case this. I know I’ve been on the receiving end of something similar multiple times before, as I’m sure have many people have who went home with strangers for one night stands, whereby the other person wants to ‘fool around’ again and so wakes you up whether you wanted them to or now. Would have thought that was a regular occurrence and an expected aspect to the whole one night stand experience. Her statements read like she genuinely raped.

    Climbing on top of her while she was asleep and groping her was not ok, but he stopped when she asked and they spoke they next day and he dropped her home?

    Any custodial sentence here seems very harsh considering some of the sentences we see here been passed for far more serious offences.

  5. The victim is absolutely gunning for the perpetrator here despite it being on the low end of offense.

    He stopped when she said no – the definition of consent?

    Odd case and no winners

  6. I get the impression that if this clear misunderstanding was enough to push her over the edge, she wasn’t all there to begin with. Pity this man has to pay the price for her being an utter nut job.

    As for the sentence, I have no idea how a judge can let so many actual criminals walk around with hundreds of suspended sentences, but decided this is where the line needed to be drawn…

  7. It seems very harsh for him. I am sure this happens in every town and city in Ireland on a weekly basis.

    No woman should be subjected to unwanted advances or touching and that is never right but in this scenario she asked him to stop, he did and they stayed in same bed for the rest of the night ? The facts of the case seem very innocuous for him to get named and shamed and a 15 month sentence, his life basically ruined.

  8. If the situation was reversed and instead of him waking up after consensual foreplay she did and she groped him and then stopped when he asked would she be going to jail for 15 months?

  9. One-night stands aren’t worth it. Give it time first. People need a vetting process. How many dudes have woken up with their dick in a girls mouth?

  10. Fuuuucking hell.

    I kind of went in prepared to be disgusted by his actions, which amount to making a slightly poor judgement in the manner of waking up his one-night stand partner?

    Based on this, a similar case could be made for waking her up with a kiss on the cheek?

    According to the article, she said stop, he stopped, nothing further occurred. Seems like a pretty clear line in the sand.

    And fifteen months?? Fuck me

    I believe sexual violence is a massive, massive problem in Ireland and it needs to be addressed, but this ain’t it

    EDIT: I can’t be arsed to reply to all the comments individually but they’re all on the same theme. We haven’t a *fucking* clue to what extent this happened. What’s described in the article has an awful lot of leeway. This could be anything from him basically mounting her and grabbing her breasts with enough vigor to forcefully wake her (which we agree would be simply fucking despicable) all the way to reaching over to cuddle and leaning his chest onto her shoulder in an attempt to wake her up gently.

    The *degree* of this is of supreme importance and we don’t know to what degree it happened. What we do know is he got the same sentence as someone who joined fucking ISIS, which doesn’t seem right to me

  13. It’s rare that I am shocked by how severe sentences for sexual assault are, but here we are.

    When you have already gone back to someone’s house and consented to sex, the offence in question doesn’t seem that egregious, especially when he stopped when she complained. I get that she didn’t consent to being woke that way, but this sort of behaviour dies not require a sentence imo.

  15. Genuinely surprised at this. I don’t want to cast any judgement on this lady, clearly, she felt violated and her feelings are valid. It sounds like being woken up by him groping her was traumatising for her, and I don’t think it’s anyone’s place to tell her she’s wrong to feel any different, if that’s how she feels then she deserves that validation (she got it also, as the outcome of the case shows.)

    From a personal perspective, and having been through the shitness of SA myself (and where denial of consent played a huge role and was repeatedly ignored) I appreciate that when he was told to stop, he did. He then went to speak to her about it and talk it through with her. I think he tried to do the right thing after the fact, probably knew that in hindsight, it’s probably not a nice way to wake up, and I personally feel the sentence he received is out of balance with both our comparable judicial cases and the offence itself.

    Not to take away from this woman’s trauma at all, just my own take having been through SA myself.

  18. I had a somewhat similar experience. (I’m actually hesitant to share it but here goes):

    On a work night out. The group included a female colleague who had confided to others that she had a crush on me. I liked her as a friend but was not interested romantically.

    At some point in the night, I slow-danced with her for one song and kissed her briefly. But then I lost interest and was distracted and chatting to other people. We ended up back at her place, both drunk, but nothing romantic going on.

    I figured I would be sleeping on the couch, but she told me I could sleep in her bed with her. She said, loud enough for her flatmates to hear, “We won’t be having sex tonight”. I laughed and replied, “I wasn’t even thinking about that”.

    In bed, with the lights off, she put her hands on me and wordlessly made the first move and initiated sex. I was surprised, but I went along with it. We had sex for quite a while – I had trouble finishing – and then she suddenly said stop. I stopped and turned over and went to sleep.

    The next morning, she was acting odd. I didn’t really pay attention and just left. A while later, I found out from colleagues in work that she was “confiding” in them, telling them that I had raped her. Other colleagues stopped speaking to me and I can only assume it was because of what she told them.

    Luckily for me, she never took it farther than that. But it was quite traumatic for me at the time. I racked my brains for months, trying to think of what I could have done that would lead to that outcome… Going over the entire night in my head…. I could never figure out what was going on with her. Other than that, she had seemed like a completely normal person.

    EDIT to add more detail.

  19. To the people saying “there has to be more to this case than is being reported” – I can see why you’d think that, but there really isn’t. The accused in this case seems to have screwed himself most by being honest and trying to do the right thing.

    The day after the incident, the victim texted him accusing him of groping her breasts while she was asleep. He admitted doing this and apologised. Likewise when she complained to the guards, he made a statement to the guards without a solicitor present. Again, he admitted what he had done, probably because he didn’t think what he had done in a million years would land him in jail.

    Except, by the letter of the law, that constituted assult and, after admitting it twice, he would hardly deny. The unfortunate truth is that if he’d lied about it, or said nothing about it, it would probably never have gone to court. Very sad case.

  20. He will have this overturned hopefully. It’s insane. That woman is clearly mentally unhinged and dangerous.

  21. Seriously can a female perspective chime in on this one as this appears to be an echo chamber of disgust with this judgement (which I agree is absolute bullshit for what it’s worth) but I would like to know if I am missing something?

    This decision seems a total disgrace and if he doesn’t get off on appeal god help us. she went back to sleep after this horrendous ordeal and he stopped when she asked.. I dunno 🤷

    Edit: even worse when compared with this bollox https://www.rte.ie/news/courts/2022/0726/1312309-garda-sentence/

  22. He should have joined ISIS, he would have went around actually murdering and raping people and came away with the same sentence

  23. Going on the reporting …. it doesn’t add up. The usual gender warriors and broken people will sound off as usual, but this case seems odd. I will look out for further reporting.

  24. This case is crazy.

    He goes home with a friend of a friend after been kissing her all night, they are in bed together kissing, etc… She says no sex he is ok with it.

    He tries again, she says no and he stops. Then he drops her home, they meet up again and talk about it. This is in 2018. She then waits an entire year to report this. She then is completely adamant this has complely ruined her life?

    The DDP pushes for a prosecution…. Gets a conviction?! Then she wants him named in the media? This whole case is weird as hell. He should 100% appeal. Outrageous this even got into court.

  25. So the sentence is based on how she felt …..after spending 12 months thinking about it….something doesn’t add up here.

  27. I wonder if she was named would she have pursued this case. Because then she’d know that no man would touch her with a badge pole in case a simple misjudgement thinking you can continue with what was consensual would end up in a prison sentence.

    It’s getting to the point that you’ll need a phone app to continously monitor and agree ongoing consent.

  29. I really do struggle to understand how sentences are decided here sometimes. Scum get suspended sentences or ridiculously low amount of time, then what seems to be a misunderstanding after a one night stand gets you fired and and over a year in prison.

  30. Insane, she stated “he used sexual violence against me”. That is a complete lie and a terrible insult to the victims of sexual violence. I have to wonder about the judge, has she ever been in a relationship or pulled a one night stand? This sentence makes sex and relationships ridiculous. No sense of perspective, no sense of a punnishment fitting the crime, no understanding of the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.

  31. This is just so sad. He’s never going to be able to work again. He made a mistake and it seems like it was taken completely ott. How many people here of either sex have initiated with a partner only for the other person not to want it and have backed down? For it to have turned out like this is kinda frightening

  32. I just seen another article where a man sexually assaulted his 13 year old half sister (in her room, by the sounds of it quite aggressively, and didn’t stop when she said no), and he only got 2.5 years!!???!! Wtf??!!
    But something seems off about this story of the journalist?? For once I’ll say, this is a harsh sentence (going by how they described the incident)

  35. This is fucking absurd. That this even got to court, let alone turned this guy into a Pariah, sent him to jail and ruined his career.

    The description in the article is of nothing.

    As usually the pendulum swings way too far. Which will probably wind up negatively affecting someone who has a genuine complaint to make.

  36. Groping someone when they’re asleep is not OK obviously.

    But the facts of the case seem very strange, the sentence seems very disproportionate in the context of the incident, and that victim impact statement seems extremely excessive.

  37. This is feminism at its finest. Stunning and brave. And well done to the female judge for striking a blow against the patriarchy. /s

  39. If I don’t ask my wife can I touch her boob every time before I touch her boob, can she claim sexual assault? I know this if different than this situation, but we’re on a slippery slope to what constitutes sexual assault here.

  43. Seems like a very harsh sentence. And I’m a woman btw. And I’m also a woman who has had her fair share of sexual harassment, but this really seems unjust imo.

  44. I can’t help but think these sorts of sentences are influenced by a huge emotional groundswell and pressure from lobby groups rather than the specifics of any case. I think this guy has had to pay a price for the difficulty in getting full rape convictions. If you are naked and in someone’s bed having consented to sexual activity it’s like there is a grey area for a while until you say stop and this sentence doesn’t even factor in that his life is completely ruined now. The sentence is completely at odds with the nature of what happened and the character he is – it’s terrifying being a man on the dating scene at the moment and there are those who are intent upon completely souring gender relations and appealing to women that they are victims in all and any circumstances- they have no risk mitigation responsibility even in avoiding feeling slightly uncomfortable.

  47. Jesus that’s disgraceful,that poor bastard did nothing wrong except bring home a nut case. World is gone mad. That judge is a charlatan. FFS

  48. Unfortunately nonsense sentiments like “always believe her” and being lambasted for making a statement like “not all men are violent sexists” has trickled down into the legal system. A custodial sentence is extremely harsh from what I can see.

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