68-year-old staff member jailed for sexual assault

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

A 68-year-old care facility employee received four years in prison on 18 March 2015, with the final two and a half suspended subject to conditions that included no contact with the victim. The proceedings were reported on 19 March 2015.

The sexual assault took place on 10 January 2011 at a Dublin facility caring for people with severe disabilities. A jury convicted the man following his trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in January 2015. He had pleaded not guilty to sexual assault.

Garda Ciara Doyle told Fiona Murphy, prosecuting, that the woman, aged 39, depended entirely on others for care and had the intellectual abilities of a three-year-old.

The report said the man had been caught molesting the woman and making her touch him. At sentencing, defence counsel said the care home's internal inquiry had cleared him of wrongdoing. The facility had permitted him to resume work before his conviction, according to the report.

John Aylmer, defending, said the man still denied the offence and had no plans to challenge the conviction. Judge Catherine Murphy said imprisonment was unavoidable because he had abused a victim who was exceptionally vulnerable.