An Offaly businessman has been given a two-and-a-half years suspended sentence on condition that he pay €30,000 to a woman he sexually assaulted in his flat.
Judge Dominic Lynch at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court suspended the sentence on the condition the money is given by the 30-year-old defendant to the victim's solicitor within three months.
Judge Lynch said a custodial sentence would not only affect the defendant's earning power but also that of people working for him.
He had pleaded not guilty to one count of sexually assaulting the woman early on July 28th, 2000, but was found guilty by a jury last February after a three-day trial.
The jury heard the woman (29) met the man in a city centre pub and went back to his nearby flat so she could call a taxi.