Man who sexually assaulted a woman, punched her in the face and threw her off a balcony has been jailed

By Jessica Magee

A man who sexually assaulted a woman, punched her in the face and threw her off a balcony has been sentenced to eight and a half years in jail for this and other offences.

Jonathan Moles (30) of De Paul Trust, Little Britain Street, Dublin 7, pleaded guilty to sexually assault and assault causing harm of a woman at a flat on Botanic Avenue, Dublin 9 on August 8, 2020.

He further admitted to assaulting a man causing him harm in a random attack while the victim was withdrawing cash from an ATM machine on Capel Street on July 8, 2019.

The court heard the victim suffered a fractured eye socket after Moles punched him in the face in broad daylight.

Moles also pleaded guilty to attacking a man on his way home from a night out in the city centre on November 18, 2019, and to robbing this victim of over €2,000 in cash.

Passing sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday, Judge Martin Nolan said Moles has a “violent disposition” and deserved a long term of imprisonment for his “cumulative misbehaviour”.

“He had no problem at all committing serious crimes: a violent, unprovoked assault, a violent robbery and a violent sexual attack,” said the judge.

Garda Conor Mannion told a prosecuting barrister that the first incident in July 2019 took place just after the injured party put his bank card in an ATM machine.

A co-accused hit the victim in the back of the head with a beer can and when the victim turned around, Moles punched him in the face, fracturing his eye socket and breaking his glasses.

The man became very dizzy and felt pain in his head; he stumbled to the ground and thought he was going to black out.

On arrest, Moles told gardaí he had been spent most of the day drinking and couldn’t remember committing the offence.

The injured man received specialist treatment and couldn’t open one eye for two weeks. He told gardaí he has avoided Capel Street since the attack and has been scared.

Garda Mannion told the court that the second offence also involved a co-accused, in this case a woman who approached the victim at about 3.30am as he was looking for a taxi home from Dame Street.

The woman asked the victim for a cigarette and when he took out a packet, she stole it and ran across the road.

When the man followed her, she turned around accompanied by Moles who punched the victim straight in the face with a closed fist.

He felt his face covered in blood and put his head in his hands, only to feel hands in his coat pocket stealing his phone, watch and the sum of cash of €2,250.

Moles was arrested shortly afterwards and told gardaí he was pushing the victim away from the woman.

Moles was on bail for this offence when he sexually assaulted and attacked a woman after spending the day with her and another companion.

The court heard the woman had spent time begging with the third man, Billy. through whom she came to know Moles, and that the three of them spent a couple of hours drinking together that afternoon in August 2020.

The trio returned to Billy’s flat on Botanic Avenue and when Billy went out to buy more drink, Moles and the woman consumed cocaine together.

Billy returned and they all decided to go to bed at around 2am – Billy on the floor, with Moles and the woman top to toe in one bed.

The woman later told gardaí that she got out of bed when Moles refused her request to stop rubbing her leg.

Moles also got out of bed and poured a can of cider over her head, whereupon Billy stood up and told him to stop.

Moles hit Billy several times in the face, kneed him in the face and stopped him leaving his own apartment, whereupon Billy jumped off his own first-floor balcony to the ground 10ft below.

The woman went out to the balcony to check on Billy and throw down his shoes when Moles came out, grabbed her hard by the neck and pressed her up against the wall.

She turned her head away when he tried to kiss her and after he put his hand down her pants she struck him in the testicles with her knee.

Moles then punched her in the face, lifted her towards the balcony and pushed her off.

The woman fell 10ft and was found a short time later by gardaí, lying on the ground holding her ankle and screaming in pain.

She was taken by ambulance to the Mater Hospital, placed in a backboard and brace and treated for a broken ankle and bruising to her arms and face.

Moles was seen heading for a nearby laneway and after his arrest, he was deemed unfit for interview for six hours.

He later admitted drinking with the woman and Billy but denied the offences.

Moles has 40 previous convictions, mostly for money laundering and possession of drugs.

He has no other convictions for assault or robbery.

Luigi Rea BL, defending, told the court that Moles became father to a young daughter last September and wanted to “clean the slate” and get rid of all charges against him.

Mr Rea said his client previously had addiction problems, but had stopped taking drugs last August as evidenced by urine analysis.

“There’s been a transformation in his behaviour and his appearance; he’s a different person to the man who committed the offences,” Mr Rea said.

The court heard the Moles has completed a number of courses and is determined to rehabilitate himself.

Judge Nolan accepted that Moles had pleaded guilty, expressed remorse and had taken steps to change himself.

As Moles was leaving court for the prison van, the mother of the female victim called out: “You deserve to rot; you deserve to suffer.”

She then apologised to the judge for the interruption.