Man (51) sexually assaulted two patients and member of staff in Louth hospital
The Drogheda IndependentA 51-year-old man sexually assaulted three women in a hospital in Co Louth.
The defendant was an in-patient in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, at the time and his victims included two other patients and a member of staff. The offending occurred over two days.
He pleaded guilty at the Circuit Court to one count of sexual assault on a full facts basis with two other charges taken into consideration.
The incidents occurred in March 2022. The accused subsequently left the country after his arrest and charge.
He has been in custody since April 2025 when arrested in Germany before his extradition to Ireland.
An “in camera” hearing at Drogheda Courthouse was told that the Romanian had previous convictions abroad.
Judge Sinéad McMullan adjourned sentencing for a week, remanding the father of five in custody.
He came to be in hospital after working a 12-hour shift in the chill room of a meat factory. At home he drank brandy to warm himself and got heart palpitations, counsel said.
Gda Lorin Mulholland testified that the defendant encountered his first victim around 8 or 9pm on March 5, 2022, as the woman, aged 61 at time, emerged from a staff changing room.
He grabbed her left hand, particularly the ring finger. She pushed him way. He then grabbed her shoulder. She pulled back, effectively pinning herself against a wall.
The defendant felt the woman’s breasts over her clothes before moving his head down to her crotch area, again over the clothing.
He said, “Me Romanian, you Irish” and made crude hand gestures.
The staff member pushed him away and continued working. She saw him again the following evening and didn’t interact with him.
That day, March 6, a patient, aged 69 at the time, was returning to her room having gone outside for a cigarette.
An unknown male put his hand on her shoulder. She initially thought it was a physiotherapist and showed him her neck brace.
However, he rubbed her chest before moving his hand down between her legs and rubbing there, also outside the clothing.
The woman was frightened. He stopped and she went back to her room.
This incident was captured on CCTV. Hospital staff contacted the lady and she came forward to make a complaint.
The most serious assault, and the charge the man pleaded guilty to, concerned a second patient who was aged 74.
Gda Mulholland continued that a day earlier, March 5, this lady saw a male waving at her. She didn’t know him but waved back.
At 11am the next day she was lying in bed when the same man came in and pulled the curtains around the bed.
He lifted her pyjama top and put his hand on her bare breast. She was unable to scream and tried pushing to get him away.
He then pulled down her bottoms and put his hand on her vagina underneath the clothing, touching without digital penetration.
The victim was unable to call out. The man stopped and began mumbling in a foreign language.
The woman said that her mind and body went blank. She went for a wash.
She made no report of the incident at the time. A healthcare assistant saw her emerging from the room and noticed she was stressed. This person felt something was amiss and reported it to security.
Later in the day, the defendant re-appeared at the door and blew his victim a kiss. She pressed the call button and made a report.
She gave Gardaí a description of her attacker’s clothes and tattoos.
On March 22, 2022, investigators searched his home at an address in Co. Monaghan.
Clothing which matched the description was seized.
The accused was arrested and brought to Drogheda Garda Station where he had the assistance of a Romanian interpreter for an interview.
He acknowledged being in hospital and accepted an interaction with the second victim, who thought he was a physiotherapist, which was on CCTV, remarking that his wife had the same problem. He said what occurred was consensual.
He denied that the other two sexual assaults happened.
Gda Mulholland said that the defendant was released and later charged with assault initially.
He left the country and was arrested in Germany on April 30, 2025 before being extradited to Ireland on June 17.
None of the victims were present in court, and only the second injured party made a Victim Impact Statement.
She described being shocked and sad “in a place I should have been safe”.
She was still afraid going out when she came across a man who resembled her attacker.
The woman continued that what happened also scared her family. She had become ill again and was afraid to return to the Lourdes. Her family took her to a different hospital.
She was in a lot of fear being an older and vulnerable woman. It left her intimidated and scared.
At the time she was weak, suffering with three broken bones in her spine.
What occurred put a lot of fear in her and it could have been worse.
The court heard of a previous conviction for rape and others for aggravated thefts, according to Interpol.
Feargal Kavanagh SC, instructed by solicitor Niall Breen, said that his client was a Romany Gypsy, a people who tend to marry young, and that the rape conviction stemmed from the defendant’s marriage at age 16 to a younger female.
It was a marriage not recognised by the State and resulted in his conviction. The two families were also feuding.
He served three-and-a-half years of a nine-year sentence and when he got out of jail the couple were married and had children.
His wife died in 2007. He remarried and had another daughter who had a congenital heart condition.
Mr Kavanagh said that the accused came from an impoverished background. His mother left the family when he was 14 and his father died when he was 17.
As the eldest boy he took on a parental role for his six siblings. He worked in Germany and Spain to provide for his family. He had his own health problems.
The accused would be consenting to a ministerial removal order at the completion of whatever sentence the court imposed.
Mr Kavanagh continued that the man did “stupid things” in the hospital which had devastating effects on his three vulnerable victims.
The court said that his remorse was not reflected in a probation report, and Mr Kavanagh said that may have been “lost in translation”.
The defendant had instructed to express his sincere remorse. He was pre-occupied with his sick daughter and not being able to provide for his family.
Prosecuting counsel Miska Hanahoe said that the State did not have specific information on the previous convictions.
Judge McMullan adjourned sentencing to January 23 next.