A Belfast man cleared of the rape of a woman he sexually attacked has been freed after being put on the RUC's sex offenders' register.
Gerard Martin Dickey (32), of Hillman Street, freed on a three-year suspended jail term, will have to notify police of his whereabouts for the next five years.
Dickey was acquitted of raping the 23-year-old woman when he pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting her after they had met at a disco on December 9th, 1996.
The woman had known Dickey for about two months before the attack and along with a friend agreed to go with him and another man to a flat in the Newlodge area of north Belfast. Once alone Dickey began kissing her, but when he tried to take matters further, she objected and finally fled the flat in tears telling her friend: "He practically raped me".
Ms Eilish McDermott QC, defending, said it was quite clear the woman had agreed to some sexual activity, but Dickey accepted he went too far.