A traveller who pleaded guilty to the attempted rape of a 17-year-old woman in the carpark of Tralee's Bon Secours Hospital on August 30th, 1996, was jailed for five years yesterday.
Arthur O'Brien (25), a married father of three, of Campsite, The Basin, Tralee, also received a concurrent two-year sentence for sexually assaulting a schoolgirl 11 days earlier.
The Central Criminal Court heard that the offence was committed in a beer garden in Killorglin, Co Kerry, during Puck Fair. After being chased away by the victim's friends, O'Brien was found on the ground in a drunken sleep.
Sgt Donie Morgan, of Tralee Garda station, told Mr Michael McDowell SC, prosecuting, the victim of the attempted rape had attended a disco in Tralee. When she left she realised someone was walking behind her. At the hospital she was attacked and pulled into the car-park.
Her screams were heard by two Tralee residents who recognised O'Brien.