The manager of a large multinational company has been spared jail after he sexually assaulted a teenage girl who was working as an au pair in his Dublin home during the COVID lockdowns.
The Portuguese national, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, pleaded guilty to one count of breaching Section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997.
Prosecuting counsel, Maddie Grant BL gave evidence that the offence took place in August 2020 on an evening when the 18-year-old victim was home alone with the accused. The court heard that the young woman had come to Ireland from Spain and was employed to look after a young child belonging to a married couple.
Ms Grant said that the assault took place at 11 pm when the father of the child sat on a sofa close to the victim before asking her to show him photos of her friends on his phone. When she did this, he told her that she was “the most beautiful” and proceeded to ask her if she had “any naughty photos, to which she replied that she had not.
After this, he began to “tickle” her on his sides and armpits before he began to touch her legs, before she told him to stop. The man told the victim that he was doing this because she was “so beautiful and interesting”
Although there was CCTV in the house present in the communal rooms of the house, the court heard that the camera in the living room had been switched off.
When the young woman said that there was no excuse for this behaviour as the accused was a married man and her employer, he told her, “it’s a normal thing to do” because “he is a man”.
The teenager then went upstairs to her bedroom and called her mother and sister back in Spain, telling them that she felt she was having an “anxiety attack” while crying, Ms Grant said.
After the incident, the man’s wife, who supported her husband in court, phoned the Gardaí after learning what had taken place.
The young woman left the house and ceased her employment with the family, staying with friends in Lucan for some weeks, the court heard.
A formal complaint was made to Garda Fergal D’Arcy on the 15th of September 2020, as a result of which an investigation commenced.
Garda Claire Dunphy, who took a statement from the victim, said WhatsApp messages sent between the victim and the accused had gone from “friendly” exchanges to “one-word answers” after the incident. She said that the messages, written in Spanish and Portuguese, took quite some time to translate.
Victim Impact Statement
In her victim impact statement, the young woman, who is now studying in Ireland, said that she has converted to Christianity and that she forgives the accused.
“When I became Christian, I knew I had to forgive people,” she said, adding that this can be “hard” in certain situations.
“I forgive you because I understand why people make mistakes,” she said.
She said that she can’t forget how her “heart sank on the floor of the living room” and how she didn’t understand why the accused was touching her, as she believed it was against his religion as a married man to do so.
She said she now understands that “people are individually responsible for their actions” in spite of professions of faith.
The victim said that she had gone to her room and sat in front of the door “all night”, fearful that the accused would come after her again and that she was in fear for her life.
She described how her life changed and the money that she had spent on therapy, and how she “lived in fear” of seeing the accused again, saying that she had seen him on the Luas “like a normal human being”.
“You had the gift of living with no worries,” she said, adding that she will “never forget” how he had “tried to blame” her for his actions.
Despite this, she said that she decided that she wanted to move on from her ordeal and how she has grown “stronger” and made a career for herself.
“I am happy, and I have built myself a bright future on my own,” she said, quoting the Bible verse, “Let all that you do be done in love”, as a key motivator for her, and a call on the accused to be a better person for the sake of his child.
Defending counsel, Morgan Shelley SC, commended the victim for her forgiveness, telling the court that his client has become devout in his own faith and attends Mass “most days”.
He said that the accused, who has no previous convictions and has come to no adverse Garda attention before or since the assault, is sincerely sorry for what he did, and is willing to compensate the injured party with a further €11,000, having been previously ordered to pay her €9,000 by the WRC.
Mr Shelley said that his client vows to never put anyone in a similar position, and that the incident was “something akin to a moment of insanity”.
He stressed that the victim is “absolutely blameless” and that his client’s actions were “unbelievably stupid and inappropriate”
Shelley said that his client’s relationship with his wife had not been as strong as it is now, adding that they have since welcomed a second child.
He referred to several character references, one of which described the accused as “upright, honest, loyal, and measured”.
The accused has borne the cost of his defence himself, the cost of which, as well as the €20,000 compensarion, has “effectively cleared out” the family’s savings, he said.
The accused has “engaged a spiritual director” about the assault as well as about “trouble in his marriage”, and “apologises in the strongest terms,” Mr Shelley said.
Having heard the facts, Judge Orla Crowe said that the accused was 22 years older than the victim, who had begun to work for him “no more than five weeks” before the incident.
The accused sat “far too close for her comfort” before asking her for “naughty” photos of herself and telling her she was “beautiful and interesting”, she said.
Noting the absence of an early guilty plea, Judge Crowe said that the young woman’s resolve to stay in Ireland and pursue her education was “a testimony to her strength and fortitude”, and that her expressions of forgiveness were “a study in graciousness and courage”.
She said that the actions of the accused were a “very significant breach of trust” towards the injured party, in the first instance, and to his wife also.
The court noted that both the young woman and the accused have found their faith “a comfort”.
Noting that the maximum sentence for the offence is six months in prison, the court noted the lack of previous convictions, the guilty plea, that the accused is the “sole breadwinner” for his family, and his expressions of remorse.
“This is a really serious breach of trust,” she said, adding that the incident has had a “very severe” impact on the victim, who indicated that she had wished to end her life after her ordeal.
The court adjourned the matter for finalisation to the 18th of May, indicating that the accused would be ordered to perform 80 hours of community service in lieu of four months in prison.
A probation report was ordered, which is to be ready on the next date.