A nurse has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a co-worker in his car after "persistently" offering the woman a lift and boasting about threesomes.
Leonard Iliuta (36) told the victim he was "a sex addict", and quizzed her about her love life before touching her on her thigh and toward her vagina several times, Dublin District Court was told.
He pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the healthcare worker during the incident. However, he was convicted following a non-jury hearing before Judge John Hughes, who found that his denials were "not credible".
Iliuta, of Seaview Mews, Seatown West, Dublin, was remanded on bail pending preparation of a victim impact statement to be presented at the sentence hearing later this month.
The woman told the court she had been working the same shifts as Iliuta, and that she normally left before him to avoid his "quite persistent" offers of a lift home in his car.
On the day of the incident, she "reluctantly" accepted, she said.
Initially, they chatted about him having a left-hand-drive car, she told the court, adding that during the journey the "conversation shifted to a kind of sexual nature" and he brought up the subject of addiction.
The woman said "he stated that he was a sex addict and there was nothing he had not done", including cheating on his girlfriend, and threesomes, and said he had previously been with a man.
She told the court Iliuta asked whether she had ever had sex with her flatmate, or another named man. She said she was uncomfortable, and Iliuta "put his hand on my left knee, lingered for a few seconds and then put it back on the gear stick".
Insinuation
The woman told the court that every time he touched her leg, his hand lingered, and it started to go up, closer to her vagina.
She recalled that the car reached traffic lights, and she asked to get out, so she could walk. However, he pulled her legs back to him when she tried to move away.
The court heard he put his hand on her left knee and once more moved it close to her vagina.
When they reached her home, he started talking about going for a drink or if there was anyone in her home. She said she told him someone was always home, and that he "insinuated his house was free, and we could go to his house", to which she said she "made no comment".
The complainant said as she got out of his car, he asked if she was leaving, but she ignored him, and he motioned her to stay.
The woman remembered being "fairly shaken up" when she entered her home and immediately told her flatmate what happened. She then notified gardaí and her employer of the incident.
State solicitor Niamh McKernan asked how the incident had made her feel, to which the woman replied that she had been reluctant to take the lift home.
She described Iliuta as being over-friendly at work, but she felt pressured to accept and that she "could not get over how uncomfortable I felt".
The court heard she no longer works with Iliuta, who has no prior criminal convictions.
Working relationship
Under cross-examination, the woman was questioned about her evidence that Iliuta had offered to drive her home 18 times over three weeks.
Defence counsel Garrett Casey said work records showed they had the same shifts on five dates, which she accepted.
She rejected suggestions that Iliuta's relationship with her was entirely professional, but accepted she had sent a congratulations message on the birth of his child.
The woman's flatmate also gave evidence that she was upset and crying when she arrived and told her what had happened.
Iliuta denied the allegations and denied talking about sex. He claimed they spoke about him having a foreign car, that she told him she was stressed, and that she and others at work were taking drugs.
Asked if he notified his employer about learning of drug abuse among other workers, he said he did not, claiming he did not want to judge them stating it was "none of my business".
Questioned by the State solicitor, he admitted he sent the woman a message via Facebook saying he missed her, but claimed that was taken out of context and was a work-related remark.
Ms McKernan put it to him that he had spoken about being addicted to sex and that he kept touching the complainant's leg and moving his hand toward her vagina, which he denied and maintained never happened.
He claimed to have been shocked when he learnt of the allegations, claiming it was character defamation.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help.
