Complaint made to government watchdog over DUP man convicted of sexual assault
A COMPLAINT has been made to the local government standards watchdog about a DUP councillor who squeezed a woman’s breast at a care home before joking he would “grope anything”.
Ian Stevenson, a 49-year-old from Headlands Avenue in Ballymoney, and a previous mayor of the town, will be sentenced later this month after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a nursing colleague.
Mr Stevenson, who worked as a nurse, is a serving councillor on Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council. He remains suspended by his party with a spokesperson explaining: “Party officers will consider the judgment in due course.”
The Northern Ireland Local Government Commissioner for Standards confirmed yesterday it has received a complaint and it was now “being assessed”.
Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard Mr Stevenson asked for a hug while talking to the woman in a corridor in April 2017.
She claimed that after she raised her arms, Stevenson grabbed her breast and the trial heard she responded by pushing him away and telling him “No”.
The woman added that the encounter left her shocked and frightened.
The court was told she later sent Stevenson a Facebook message expressing her “disgust” at what happened.
Mr Stevenson denied the accusation and claimed in court that at no time did he grab or touch her breast.
He told the court it was the woman who offered him a hug when he told her he was going to lay a wreath on a friend’s grave.