Bray People

MAN GETS JAIL TERM FOR MASTURBATI­NG IN CAR

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A MAN who was masturbati­ng in a parked car has been sentenced to three months in prison.

Dylan Tate (28), 21 Stonebridg­e Court, Shankill, was convicted at Bray District Court last Thursday in relation to an incident at Ferndale Glen, Rathmichae­l, on November 30, 2016. He was also charged with having no insurance.

A woman told the court that she arrived early to the area for her cleaning job at a private house and that she believed the defendant had followed her from a nearby church.

‘I noticed him behind me,’ she said.

She pulled up outside her employer’s gate and said that the car stopped behind her.

‘He was looking at me. I didn’t want eye contact with him. I did something in my car for a few minutes then it was time to go to work so I got out of the car. I heard him say “glass of wine”

or something like that. He was masturbati­ng. I was scared and went to try to get the gate open. I thought he might follow me,’ she told the court.

In cross examinatio­n, solicitor Michael O’Connor said that it didn’t appear from CCTV outside the premises that she was in any rush to get out of the car.

‘My client takes issue with the allegation,’ said Mr O’Connor. ‘He did pull up there but was simply checking his phone, not doing the alleged act. You were mistaken,’ he said.

Judge Kennedy asked the witness why she believed he was following her such a short distance. ‘ That’s a bit illogical,’ he said.

She said it was because she saw him driving behind her.

Garda Stephen Ryan attended the scene after gardaí were contacted by the woman’s employer.

He said that the cul-de-sac is a turning area really. He took a statement from the injured party, who was upset, he said. She described the man, what had happened, and what he was wearing – a red top and light coloured tracksuit bottoms.

The car belonged to the partner of the defendant. They had just purchased the vehicle in recent weeks.

Garda Ryan went to the defendant’s home and his partner answered the door. Tate came out, wearing grey tracksuit bottoms and a red Liverpool top.

Garda Ryan told the court that Tate said: ‘It’s not what you think, can we do this somewhere else?’

He was nervous at the door, said Garda Ryan. They arranged to meet the following evening at the station. Tate was told that gardaí had re- ceived a complaint from a woman saying he had followed her and performed a lewd act.

Garda Ciaran Murphy told the court that he initially received a call on his personal phone from the woman’s employer. He was off duty.

Garda Murphy read the interview into the record. The defendant said that he was driving around the area. He admitted he was not insured and said he drives the car to keep it going.

‘I was doing nothing in the car, just looking at my phone,’ he said in interview. He said that this was a big misunderst­anding. ‘I’m actually shaking here,’ he said. ‘She must have been mistaken. I do have my hands down my trousers all the time. I didn’t follow anybody. I was there but I wasn’t doing that. I feel sick to my core here.’

‘I’m genuinely sorry for frightenin­g her if she was frightened by me.’

Mr O’Connor made an applicatio­n that the car did not count as a public place in law. Disturbing the peace in a public place was the charge Tate was facing.

However, Judge Kennedy refused the applicatio­n. ‘You can’t act as you wish. You have to have some regard to what people can see,’ he said.

Tate denied that any lewd act had taken place but Judge Kennedy did not accept that.

‘It was certainly very unpleasant for the injured party,’ said the judge. ‘She saw this man masturbati­ng for his own kicks.’

The court heard that Tate has five previous conviction­s, all for road traffic matters.

Judge Kennedy handed down a sentence of three months for the public order matter, and a three-year driving disqualifi­cation for the insurance matter.

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