SEX ATTACK NEIGHBOUR ORDERED TO PAY €20K
Man assaulted victim in bed
A MAN who sexually assaulted a woman after a “get to know your neighbour” party has been told he must come up with €20,000 in compensation
Anthony Ferguson, who attacked the woman in her own home, was spared jail after a court was told he could get a loan from his father who runs a chain of supermarkets.
He had pleaded guilty at Letterkenny Circuit Court, Co Donegal, in January to charges of sexual assault, burglary and threats to damage property.
The court was told that supermarket manager Ferguson was an “outsider” who had arrived at the event in a Donegal village in 2018.
That evening, the victim in the case was serving drinks when a man who was not local to the area, later identified as Ferguson, became rowdy and he was asked to leave. The victim in the case and her husband went back to their home nearby with some neighbours where they had some more drinks with friends.
After going to bed, the victim revealed she was awoken by Ferguson in the bed beside her.
The terrified woman jumped up and alerted her husband who managed to remove him.
Colm Smyth, barrister for Ferguson, whose address was given as Britannia Point, Colliers Wood in London, said his client had offered to pay €20,000 in compensation.
However, when the case was mentioned yesterday, Mr Smyth said his client had failed to get a loan from his father and proposed paying the woman in instalments of €500.
Adjourning the case, Judge John Aylmer warned Anthony Ferguson, 26, he needed to make “far more accelerated progress” when he appears in court again.