Man who fled Wicklow court during sexual assault trial given nine year prison sentence in his absence

By Darragh McCann, The Wicklow People

A man who absconded midway through his sexual assault trial in Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court has been sentenced to nine years in prison after a jury returned a majority guilty verdict in his absence.

The 45-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, fled the jurisdiction shortly before the jury was due to resume deliberations prompting a bench warrant to be issued and a multi-county search that has so far failed to locate him.

After he fled the jury returned a majority guilty verdict on the two counts of sexual assault that he was facing during the trial which took place in June 2025.

Detective Garda Sinéad Brosnahan told a sitting of Wicklow Circuit Court last week that the trial began on June 26, 2025, and continued until Friday, June 27, when Judge Terence O’Sullivan informed the jury before lunch that a majority verdict would be accepted. When court resumed after the break, the defendant had absconded.

The court heard that a bench warrant was issued, and numerous calls were made to him, but these went unanswered. His phone number has since gone out of service.

Gardaí spoke to his ex-partner, who told them the last time she had contact with her former boyfriend was on Friday afternoon. She described him as acting erratically and explained that they had broken up three or four months before the trial, but he had been living at her property until the conclusion of the case.

In her evidence to the court, Detective Garda Sinéad Brosnahan said she travelled to the man’s last known address in Tipperary while also contacting his two previous employers, both of whom stated they had not heard from him since he absconded. Search warrants were executed at multiple locations, including a property owned by his former employer.

The court heard that the defendant had not claimed any social welfare payments and was unemployed at the time of the trial. One condition of his bail had been that he surrender his passport, however his passport was out of date, and he had not applied for a replacement.

Counsel for the prosecution James Kelly BL, informed the court that he would give summary of the evidence that was given to the jury during the trial.

The court was informed that in June 2019, the defendant had been living in the same house as the teenager victim for nearly a year. The victim, who was in fifth year of secondary school at the time, had returned home at around 9pm after being out with friends.

The defendant reportedly entered the victim’s room with a towel around him and asked her for a massage, saying he had a sore back. The victim described the situation as “unusual and extremely strange.” The court heard that he then grabbed her by the throat and began kissing her.

Mr Kelly BL told the court that the defendant forced the victim onto the bed and removed her clothing before continuing to sexually assaulting her, which lasted several minutes. He also attempted to proposition her to have sex with him.

The victim said she heard the sitting room door open and her mother moving upstairs, at which point the defendant left the room. She described feeling “paralysed” during the attack. She contacted her brother via Facebook Messenger, and her mother became aware of what had happened. The defendant was removed from the home the following day.

Det Brosnahan gave evidence detailing the investigation that followed. The defendant was arrested and released on station bail. During the interview process, he maintained his innocence, stating, “I will fight this”.

The first trial began in 2023, but the jury was discharged.

A victim impact statement was read to the court on her behalf by James Kelly BL. In it, the victim said the experience left her “frozen, paralysed and scared”. She said she remembers it like it was yesterday and that it has stayed with her ever since.

The victim told the court she cried herself to sleep most nights afterwards, and at one point tried to end her own life.

She said she had to move her bedroom around and change the bed sheets because even being in the room reminded her of what happened.

Coming into court was also very difficult for her, she said. She described how hard it was having to walk past the accused and sit in the same room as him.

She said the aftermath took over her life. It also deeply affected her family, who she said were heartbroken that they could not help her.

At one stage she said she nearly dropped the case because she felt so overwhelmed.

She told the court that what happened is now part of her life and her story.

Counsel for the defence, Ed Sweetman BL, sitting on behalf of Barry White SC and instructed by Eamonn O’Moore BL, told the court he had nothing to add. The court was informed that the defence’s argument during the trial was that the assault never occurred. The jury returned a majority verdict of eleven to one.

During sentencing, Judge O’Sullivan noted that the guilty party’s decision to flee was an insult to the court process, to the victim who had to sit through two trials, and to the jury.

The judge added: “The defendant was not remanded in custody. I am sorry for that. It was not my intention. We assumed things would work out if he turned up for both trials. He must have known how the jury was going to vote.”

Judge O’Sullivan handed down a sentence of ten years on one count of the indictment and a further ten years on the second count, to run concurrently. The judge noted that the degree of force used, the age gap, and the significant impact on the victim’s life moved the sentence from the mid-range into the high range.

The final year of the ten year sentence was suspended, considering that the 45-year-old, who was 39 at the time of the assault, had no previous convictions. Sentencing concluded with the judge expressing his support for the victim.