Dublin man found guilty of abduction, assault
Friday, 5 October 2001 21:42
A 31-year-old south Dublin man has been found guilty of abducting and assaulting a young American woman in 1999. Barry Fitzgerald formerly of Wolverton Glen, Dalkey will be sentenced later by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Elizabeth Gallucci managed to escape from Fitzgerald's car as he drove toward the Dublin Mountains.
A jury of eight men and three women spent all afternoon deliberating, before convicting Barry Fitzgerald by a majority verdict of 10-1 of false imprisonment and of assault causing bodily harm in July 1999.
The victim, Elizabeth Gallucci, from Boston, returned from the United States to give evidence. She told the jury how she had met Barry Fitzgerald in a Temple Bar pub and they went to a club together.
He offered her a lift to her hotel in the city centre but drove instead to his home in Dalkey. Elizabeth Gallucci said he then molested her and held her in a bear hug when she tried to get away.
She agreed to let him drive her back to her hotel because he said there were no taxis and she felt she had no choice. Fitzgerald then took her on what was described in court as an insane route through the Dublin mountains.
He denied in evidence that he asked Elizabeth Gallucci if she would like to be raped as he drove her on a suspicious route through the mountains. Fitzgerald claimed that he took that route to avoid any Garda checkpoints as he was afraid of being caught for drink driving.
- 9.00 News: Teresa Mannion reports on the case
