A LIMERICK man has been jailed for 18 months by Mr Justice Paul Carney for the sexual assault of a woman in Co Kerry in 2009.
The victim awoke to find John Mulvihill (27) sexually assaulting her. When she shouted at him to get off he told her she “seemed to be enjoying” herself, the Central Criminal Court was told.
In a victim impact statement the woman said she relived the assault “over and over” again in her head and that she felt her “life has been turned upside down.”
“I just feel so different to the person I was,” she said, adding that she suffered from panic attacks and post-traumatic stress disorder. “I just feel so unsafe all the time.”
Mulvihill, Markievicz Park, Athea, Limerick, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the woman in Listowel on June 30th, 2009.
Mr Justice Carney said the case was “typical” of ones that were coming before the courts where a young man of “impeccable character” leaves home for the night without any intentions, but on “taking a cocktail of alcohol comes to be oblivious as to whether he has committed a sexual assault”.
He sentenced Mulvihill to three years but suspended the final 18 months after taking into account his early plea and genuine remorse.
Garda Aoife O’Connell said the victim was visiting a friend in the town during the Listowel Races and they went out to several pubs before going to a nightclub.
The victim’s friend met Mulvihill and the two began “getting friendly”. All three went back to the friend’s apartment and she took him into her room while the victim went to sleep in another room.
Later that night the victim woke up to find Mulvihill in her bed. He had undressed her and was sexually assaulting her. She started screaming at him and he got dressed and left the apartment.
The victim’s friend then received several text messages from Mulvihill apologising for his actions. The next morning gardaí were alerted and Mulvihill was arrested. Defence counsel Anthony Sammon said Mulvihill had had a lot to drink and deeply regretted his behaviour.