Teenage boy grabbed breast of surrounded schoolgirl

A TEENAGE boy has admitted sexually assaulting a schoolgirl who was surrounded by a group on a footpath and prevented from getting away.

The girl, who is in her teens, had been on her way home from school when the terrifying incident happened in north Co Dublin on a date in 2016.

The now 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named because he is a minor, pleaded guilty at the Dublin Children’s Court and was remanded on bail yesterday, pending sentence.

Judge John O’Connor asked the Probation Service to draft a pre-sentence report on the teenager, who has to attend a sexual offending treatment programme for adolescents.

In an account of the evidence against the boy, then aged 15, Garda John Delaney said a then 16-year-old girl “was walking home from school at about 4pm when she was stopped by a group of youths, of which the accused is alleged to have been one.

“She was not allowed to continue on her journey and the accused grabbed the injured party’s breast before leaving the scene,” Gda Delaney said.

He said the girl was “extremely scared, there was no one else in the vicinity; there was no one outside this group that could see what was happening”.

A backpack was also swung at her and the group called her names and abused her before they began to walk away in another direction.

The girl then ran home and explained what happened to her mother who called the local Garda station, Gda Delaney said.

From their enquiries, the youth was identified as one of the culprits. He had no prior criminal convictions.

A victim impact statement prepared by the girl was handed in to court.

A 16-year-old boy was accused of false imprisonment in connection with the incident, a charge he has denied.