A former professional footballer turned taxi driver has been jailed for 2-and a-half years for the sexual assault of a female student after he got in the back of his car and made unwanted physical contact with her.
Michale Keane (42) of Blackhorse Grove, Dublin 7, pleaded guilty to the sexual assault in November 2023.
The court heard that the victim was out at a college Christmas party and decided to make her way back to her accommodation by taking a taxi from Camden Street, Dublin at approximately 10:30pm.
During the journey she chatted to Keane and at a certain point noticed that he had pulled in at Bull Island where he got out of the car, got into the back with her, and proceeded to put one arm around her shoulders and sexually assaulted her with his right hand.
On the evening in question the young woman who was in her early twenties lost her friends at a club. Although she was “inebriated” she was “still aware” of “all of the events” the court heard.
When Keane got in the back of the car with her she said, “What are you at?” before he proceeded to assault her by touching her vaginal area over her underwear after putting his hand up her skirt.
She described trying to open the door of the people carrier to get away but thinking it was locked as she was unable to open it “out of panic”.
She turned around and punched Keane in the face causing him to draw back from her before he moved near her again and asked if she wanted to proceed to her destination.
The victim described being “afraid” and “in shock”.
On the way back to her lodgings she texted a female friend who waited for her outside the building and took a photo of the taxi and driver when the car arrived. The fare was 77.77 euro which she paid in order to “get away” from Keane.
A male friend came over to see the victim and accompanied her to the local Garda station to make a statement. A mark was observed on her hand which was consistent with her account of having punched the accused.
CCTV was harvested which corroborated the victim’s account of events leading to Keane’s arrest on the 28th of February 2024.
He initially refused to answer Garda questions saying only “no comment” but provided a written statement and denied what had happened.
He claimed that the young woman had asked him to drive around looking for a party and that this was why he had driven to Bull Island. He has two previous convictions, one for theft, and one for causing actual bodily harm.
Prosecuting counsel Aideen Collard SC read a victim impact statement to the court in which the young woman said her “life has not been the same” and that she feels “fear lingering in ways I never expected”.
She now has issues with the “once routine act of travelling alone” and sometimes feels she is “right back in that taxi”.
She said she had been “taken away from my home and into darkness” and that “fear washed over” her.
“My body froze in fear”, she said after Keane “slid” into the back with her and she believed she was “locked in”.
Her “body froze” and she felt “absolute terror”.in “such an isolated place”.
A number of letters were submitted to the court as character reference for the accused including from a man who suffers with leukemia who said that Keane has arranged for him to visit the Preston football team and receive “VIP treatment”.
A woman who the court heard suffers from “mental health” issues described him as a “beautiful person” saying he was almost like a “carer” to her.
He has lost his job as a taxi driver and is struggling to support his family, the court heard.
Keane’s defending counsel, Mr. Keith Spencer, said his client had offered an “unreserved apology” to the victim and that he has expressed “shame and disgust at himself for having done this” in a letter to his own daughter who is 20yrs of age. He also has a son who has autism, the court heard.
He is involved in charitable work and has been involved in raising 8,000 for Crumlin Children’s Hospital.
Considering an appropriate sentence, Judge Martin Nolan said that “every sexual assault has a context”.
He said that the accused had removed himself from the driver seat and touched the injured party on her vaginal area over her underwear.
“To her credit” she punched him, whereupon he stopped and “resumed the journey”.
The aggravating factors are “obvious”, he said, pointing to the fact that the accused is in a position of trust as a taxi driver. “Thankfully, most are trustworthy,” he added.
He set the offending at the middle to lower range but said that the aggravating factors made it a “more serious matter”.
A headline sentence of 4-5yrs was set with Judge Nolan remarking that the injured party was “waylaid” and “sexually assaulted”.
Mr. Spencer’s pleas for a suspended sentence for his client were “unrealistic” for this “bad misbehaviour” he said, passing a custodial sentence of 2-and-a-half years.
Keane is to be added to the sex offenders register.