Minister’s brother walks free after sex assault on girl
No jail for delivery man as court is told he comes from ‘very dysfunctional background’
THE brother of a Fine Gael minister has walked free after sexually assaulting a schoolgirl working in a shop last summer.
John Ring, 47, who is a brother of junior Tourism Minister Michael Ring, sexually assaulted the 17-year-old working alone in a country shop, telling her afterwards: ‘Well, you aren’t shy.’
He was placed under supervision of the probation service for 12 months by a judge yesterday, after the court heard he came from ‘a very dysfunctional family and was sexualised at a very young age’.
This is despite Ring initially denying the charge in December and claiming the girl had been flirting with him. When he later pleaded guilty, he protested to the court, saying: ‘But I did just rub her shoulder.’
His sentence will be finalised in 12 months depending on his behaviour in the interim.
In the meantime he must engage with the probation service, continue counselling and have no contact whatsoever with the girl or her family.
His defence barrister, Eoin Garavan, told the court yesterday: ‘His family will not speak to him because of their disgust and shame. His own daughter will not speak to him because of the slagging she gets and because of how inappropriate this was in her eyes.
‘He is to blame for this. His parents were alcoholics and there was inappropriate contact with a neighbour between the age of four and nine and that has stayed with him,’ Mr Garavan explained.
The court hear Ring, a bread delivery man, called the girl down to the back of the empty Galway shop on July 22, 2014, on the pretext he was looking for something from the off-licence.
He pinned her into a corner from behind, ordered her to spread her legs and then put his hand inside her blouse and thrust his groin up against her.
He was only interrupted when a customer came into the shop and Ring let the girl go. As he left the shop he said to her: ‘Well, you aren’t shy.’
Ring, of 35 Dunbeag, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, initially pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the Transition Year student when he appeared for trial before Galway Circuit Criminal Court in December.
He also denied a second charge of harassing the girl while she walked home along a country lane that same day.
The trial got under way in December but following an outline of the facts to the jury by Mr Conor Fahy BL, prosecuting, Ring changed his plea to guilty of sexual assault.
That plea was accepted by Mr Fahy on behalf of the DPP on the basis that facts in the harassment charge were admitted.
Ring was re-arraigned and pleaded guilty to the sexual assault charge before adding: ‘I plead guilty but I did just rub her shoulder.’
Sentence was adjourned to yesterday’s court for the preparation of a psychological report and probation report on Ring along with a impact statement from the victim.
Judge Rory McCabe said this had been a very disturbing and very sinister incident. ‘It was an outrageous series of acts that were high-handed, threatening and invasive of her privacy,’ the judge added. He said the offence merited a four-year sentence.
However, referring to the psychological and probation reports before the court, the judge said Ring had ‘a complex
‘His family won’t speak to him’ ‘Complex and troubled’
and troubled background’ and was viewed at being at a low risk of reoffending.
From the reports, the judge noted Ring was at the very early stages of dealing with the advice and treatment he was now engaged in and to that end, he said, he would not f i nalise sentence.
Judge McCabe placed Ring on probation for 12 months and said the length of the sentence he would serve after that would depend on his willingness to engage with the probation service in the interim.
He directed that Ring continue to receive counselling and have no contact whatsoever with his victim or her family.