Man jailed for sexual assault on sleeping woman

By Fiona Ferguson

A rapist who sexually assaulted a sleeping woman has been jailed for a further two years.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Joseph Parker (32), who is currently serving a four-year sentence for rape, committed the sexual assault while on bail on the rape charge.

Parker, previously of Crowfall, Bridge Road, Dublin 18, pleaded guilty to sexual assault of the woman at a Dublin hotel on September 9, 2020.

The guilty plea was entered on the basis of recklessness.

The maximum sentence for this offence is ten years imprisonment.

Passing sentence last Friday, Judge Martin Nolan said he was not sure he could say with any degree of certainty that Parker would not offend again but noted the court was not in the business of preventive detention.

“He must get a just sentence for what he did on the particular night,” he said.

Judge Nolan set a headline sentence of four years and noting the mitigating circumstances, such as his guilty plea, he imposed a sentence of two years imprisonment.

This is to be served consecutively to his current sentence.

Garda Philip Cunningham told Aideen Collard BL, prosecuting, that Parker and the woman had a number of drinks in the city centre before going back to a hotel room.

The woman had previously indicated to him that she did not wish to be intimate, and he had promised to behave in this regard.

The woman had not been planning to stay the night at the hotel but felt dizzy there and asked for a glass of water before falling asleep.

She awoke to feel Parker’s fingers inside her vagina.

She pushed him away, locked herself in the bathroom and rang a friend.

Parker spoke to her, asking her not to report the matter and apologising.

The woman left with her friend and reported the matter to gardai.

Parker told gardai that they had both been drunk, and he tried to initiate sex.

He said it was possible she was asleep, but he thought she was moving around.

Barry Ward BL, defending, asked the court to take into account Parker’s cooperation and assistance to the investigation, as well as his guilty plea.

He said Parker has expressed remorse.

He said his client was in a particular state of belief but accepted the woman said she was asleep.

He said Parker did not try to stop her leaving, and while he had acted recklessly and foolishly in his offending, he had done everything he could after that to deal with the case in a correct fashion.