MAN SENTENCED TO SIX MONTHS AFTER SEXUAL ASSAULT ON TEENAGER IN FERMOY
A man in his thirties has been sentenced to six months in jail following an incident which occurred at Chapel Hill, Fermoy in February, writes KatieGlavin.
Kamil Szymczak, with an address at Chapel Hill, Fermoy, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a teenager, contrary to the Criminal Law (Rape Amendment) 1990 at Fermoy District Court on Friday.
Judge Joanne Carroll was told of the circumstances of the sexual assault, in which the teenager was grabbed by her underwear while with two friends on her lunch break from school. Mr Szymczak had approached the girl with another man.
Defence solicitor, Ciaran O’Keeffe said his client was under the influence of intoxicants at the time.
Mr O’Keeffe said that his client made admissions to Gardaí when he was arrested a day later for questioning about the offence and has since expressed remorse and offered the ‘deepest apology’ to the victim.
Judge Carroll heard that that the Polish national had a total of 26 previous convictions including ones for possession of drugs, burglary, and criminal damage as well as two for assault.
While she described the incident as a ‘shocking violation’ of the schoolgirl’s person, she added that a previous assault charge, which Mr Szymczak was on bail for at the time, was an aggravating factor in the case.
The sentence was set at six months and four days, to take account of the three months and four days the defendant had served since going into custody. The term will be served after he completes a 15 month sentence for an assault charge, for which he was on bail at the time, imposed earlier last week at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
It was also ordered that Szymczak’s name be placed on the Sex
Offenders Register for a period of ten years following an application by Inspector Tony O’Sullivan.