Shop worker convicted of flashing genitals to Nutgrove customer
A mobile phone store worker has been convicted of exposing his genitals to a customer at Nutgrove Shopping Centre.
Brian Carroll (30), of South Circular Road, Dublin 8, had pleaded not guilty at Tallaght District Court to exposing his genitals to the woman on 28 June, 2023. The offence is contrary to section 45 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017.
The woman told the court that she had returned to the Three store for a follow-up about issues with her phone service and said she recognised Carroll from her previous visit.
She said she waited at the counter while he tried to confirm a mobile phone number on his work iPad, as the number had not been imported correctly from her previous service after she switched to Three.
The victim said the iPad Carroll was using could only swivel halfway and he motioned for her to come around to his side of the desk so she could view the screen.
When she did, she said she saw his erect penis protruding down the inside of his left leg from his shorts. She said he looked directly at her and then looked down at his genital area in a way she understood as “look here”. She said she left the shop in shock.
Carroll denied the allegation and said the incident “just didn’t happen”.
He told the court he was wearing shorts and a Three branded T-shirt and had been sitting at a normal-height desk in a small kiosk-style shop. He said there was “no possible way” the woman could have seen anything from where she was standing.
He said he had been unable to locate her number on the system because it had not yet transferred from Vodafone. He told the court he had asked her to come around to view the screen because the iPad could not fully rotate.
Carroll said the accusation only came to his attention when two Gardaí arrived at the shop. He said he initially assumed there had been a theft and temporarily closed the store to speak to them.
He said he immediately suggested Gardaí take the store’s CCTV footage to “get this sorted”, but it emerged that the hard drive had been full and the CCTV had not been recording for some time.
He said he wished to speak about the complainant “with the utmost respect” but added; “I just don’t have anything to say. It just didn’t happen”.
Defence counsel, Seoirse Fennessy BL, said there was no evidence that Carroll intended to cause fear, distress or alarm, and argued that his client had co-operated fully and had been proactive in attempting to retrieve CCTV from the store.
He said allegations of this nature were “hard to prove and even harder to disprove”.
The prosecution said the woman’s account was clear and consistent and that the intention could be inferred from the accused drawing her attention to his shorts when she moved around the counter.
Judge Patricia McNamara said she found the woman to be a credible witness and that she had “no doubt” the complainant had been in a state of shock.
She said she was satisfied to convict Carroll and ordered a pre-sentencing probation report to assess his risk of reoffending.
The judge adjourned the case to allow the woman to prepare a victim impact statement and warned Carroll not to come to the attention of Gardaí in the meantime. The matter was put back for sentencing on 19 February.