An amateur magician who threatened a female friend with a knife, held her captive and sexually assaulted her has been sentenced to six years in prison. The man (28) had pleaded guilty at Central Criminal Court to sexual assault, false imprisonment and production of a knife on November 23rd, 2011, at his Dublin home.
The man and his victim had met through the friendship website “Tagged”, on which he said he had done some pub work as a magician. On the night of the assault, the woman’s father dropped her at the man’s house. The man had been drinking and seemed upset as he had broken up with his girlfriend. The victim agreed to take part in a conjuring trick to cheer him up. The man handcuffed her hands behind her back and attempted to blindfold her.
He forced her to cancel a lift home with her father – holding the phone – then cut buttons from her shirt and cut her bra. As she became more upset, he said to her: “I could never hurt you. I was only messing. I’m sorry, it was a joke that went too far.” He allowed the woman to go home in a taxi.