Three years for sexual assault
A newly married alcoholic who sexually assaulted a Galway woman as she slept has been sentenced to three years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Christopher O'Neill (aged 36) of Charlesville Road, Cabra was drinking with the woman and two others before she fell asleep in the living room and awoke to find him putting his finger in her vagina.
Judge Patrick McCarten dismissed claims that O'Neill was "acting in a drunken stupor" after drinking 14 pints and said his "actions were not those of someone who was out of it".
He commented: "It is a particularly heinous thing to invade the body of a woman and that is what makes the offence so disgraceful."
He sentenced him to three years, suspending the final two, as O'Neill's wife cried out "you can't send him to jail".
He had pleaded guilty to sexual assault at a house in Santry on October 9, 2005. He had originally pleaded not guilty but failed to turn up for his trial last year. A new trial was scheduled but he indicated he would plead guilty the day before it was due to begin.
