A 74 YEAR OLD victim of a sexual assault has asked the Central Criminal Court to give her attacker a chance and not to send him to jail.
The woman has said she "completely forgives" the 28 year old man and does not want him to serve a custodial sentence Del Sgt James Costello told Mr Justice Carney yesterday.
The judge noted the woman's sentiments but added he also had to have regard to the court's duty to the public. He remanded the man in custody to next Thursday for sentence.
Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC defending, said his client had drunk 16 pints of beer before the attack. But he accepted his client's drunkenness could not be used as an excuse.
The defendant came from a respectable family, who were standing by him. He had no previous convictions and had taken part in numerous fund raising events for charity.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the victim's identity, pleaded guilty to attempting to rape her in her Dublin home on August 18th, 1995.
Det Sgt Costello said one of the defendant's sisters had once lodged in the victim's house and they remained good friends. After the attack, the woman had been unable to sleep and worried about the possibility of a sexually transmitted disease but those fears had now eased.
The detective told prosecutor Mr Peter Charleton SC that around 3 a.m., the victim heard the defendant banging on her front door demanding to see a woman who no longer lived there.
He forced his way in and despite the woman's screams for help, he subjected her to a sexual ordeal.
During the attack, he told her he had done nothing like this before and threatened to kill her if she did not comply with his demands.
After he left, the woman alerted the gardai and he was arrested.