This article contains references to sexual assault, which some readers may find distressing.
Reader discretion is advised.
By Fiona Ferguson
A man who sexually assaulted a sleeping tourist has been jailed for 30 months.
Dennis Mendoza (35) with an address at The Foundry, Beaver Street, Dublin 1, was convicted by a jury of sexually assaulting the man on a date in September 2021. He has no previous convictions and has been in custody since his conviction in January.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard the victim was staying in a shared room in what he believed to be a legitimate hostel and woke to find himself being sexual assaulted by Mendoza.
Detective Garda Richard Horgan told Marc Murphy BL, prosecuting, that the male tourist and his friend had booked to stay in what they believed was a legitimate hostel, but the accommodation was unregistered. They were shown to the room by Mendoza, whom they took to be a receptionist.
The two men slept in the room in bunk beds. The victim was awoken at about 4am to find that his genitals were being groped by a person he identified as Mendoza.
He said there was also a second unknown male present, who ran from the room when he challenged Mendoza. Mendoza told the man he was not touching him and had come in to close a window.
The friends remained in the room until the morning before leaving and later reporting the incident to gardai. A substance found on the ground in the room was discovered to be semen but DNA did not match the victim or Mendoza.
Gda Horgan said Mendoza was co-operative with the investigation but made no admissions and gave an account of being in the room to close a window.
James O’Brien BL, defending, said Mendoza had come to Ireland from El Salvador, and while his partner was in court, there was a limited support base for him in Ireland. He said there will be a place for him with his partner when he is released from custody.
He handed in a psychiatric report outlining Mendoza’s personal circumstances and said his client had done as well as he could given his background. He is assessed as in the moderate category of risk of reoffending.
He said in relation to the verdict, Mendoza did not wish to appeal but maintains his innocence.
Passing sentence,, Judge Martina Baxter noted the injured party had declined to submit a victim impact statement but said she could infer his shock, distress and confusion at the time and that he felt violated by virtue of being sexually assaulted while he was asleep.
She said the court had been told the injured party has moved on and that is to his credit.
Judge Baxter made reference to the psychiatric report handed into court which outlined Mendoza’s deprived upbringing and traumatic events in his childhood.
She noted he did not have issues with addiction and his focus has been on education and work. She said the report was helpful in understanding his mental health issues. She noted he had experienced difficulties in his home country by virtue of his same sex relationship.
She observed the report refers to the offending as not being entirely impulsive and included capitalising on the availability of a sleeping victim. She noted Mendoza had engaged in brazen lying when confronted by the victim. She said he had been subletting his rented accommodation.
Judge Baxter set a headline sentence of four years. Taking into account the mitigating and personal circumstances she imposed a sentence of 40 months, with the final ten months suspended.
The conditions of the suspension include probation supervision, with work to address sexual offending and his mental health difficulties.