A 31-year-old man who sexually assaulted a Ryanair cabin crew member during a flight to Dublin has been given a suspended sentence.
Aaron Brady from Main Street, Killenshandra, Co Cavan, groped and kissed the woman and pulled her head towards his groin in the confined space of the crew area of the aircraft.
Judge Jonathan Dunphy said an immediate custodial sentence was not warranted at this point but said a two-year sentence would be suspended under strict conditions, including that Brady attend a residential treatment programme for alcohol abuse and be supervised by the probation service for three years.
He also ordered Brady to hand over €3,130 to compensate the injured party along with €5,000 already given as a token of his remorse.
Judge Dunphy said the man had committed a sexual assault on a female in her workplace and had violated her personal space.
He had engaged in inappropriate and indecent behaviour without any regard for the woman, her colleagues or other passengers.
The judge said it was no wonder he had no memory of boarding the plane on the day of the offence having consumed four bottles of wine in the airport with his partner and buying 15 miniature bottles on the plane most of which were consumed by him after his partner fell asleep.
While clearly his decision making was impaired by an extreme amount of alcohol it did not lessen the severity of what took place, the judge said.
The judge said Brady had reached "rock bottom" in terms of his alcohol abuse and had expressed deep shame and had offered an early guilty plea.
He said it was notable that Brady had taken full responsibility for his actions and had shown insight into his offending.
"He is someone who presents with genuine remorse and demonstrates a strong level of victim awareness and he fully accepts she should have been carrying out her work in a safe environment and he trespassed on that," the judge said.
He also commended the cabin crew member for the manner in which "she has dealt with this terrible ordeal", and despite having to leave her job had gone on to progress in her career elsewhere.
At an earlier sentence hearing, the woman told the court the incident happened while "I was only doing my job" and said it had changed her life entirely.
Brady had consumed what his lawyers described as a "mind boggling" amount of alcohol before and after he boarded the plane, with the number of miniature bottles of wine sold to him on the flight in double figures.
In court he offered a personal apology to the woman and said he remembered nothing of the incident.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard the 31-year-old was returning from a holiday with his partner when about 40 minutes before the plane was due to land, he approached the crew area of the aircraft on his way to use the toilet and engaged in conversation with cabin crew.
He placed his foot on one crew member's lap and she pushed it away, realising he was drunk and slurring his words.
He then felt the inside of her leg and kissed her cheek before grabbing her head and pulling it towards his groin. He then started to remove his jumper before going in to the toilet but when he emerged he again assaulted the woman by rubbing her thigh and buttock.
Garda Sinéad Murphy told the court they were alerted while the plane was still in the air and Brady was arrested for being a disruptive passenger when the plane landed.
He was too drunk to be interviewed and later woke up disorientated with no memory of what happened.
His partner, who had fallen asleep on the plane, told gardaí his behaviour was totally out of character for him. He was subsequently interviewed when gardaí received a report of the sexual assault and said he had no memory of the incident. He pleaded guilty when the case came to court.
In her victim impact statement read to the court by Garda Murphy, the woman said she had suffered a financial loss of over €3,000 from being off work sick, taking voluntary leave and eventually resigning.
She said: "I am writing this to share how the actions of this person has impacted my life by being sexually assaulted in a tight space with colleagues there."
She said she has suffered intense anxiety and recurring nightmares since the assault, and the incident compounded past traumas which she had managed to overcome but now found herself "back to square one".
She said it had taken a huge toll on her sleep and her sense of safety and peace had been shattered. She said she felt nauseous going to work and was "only doing my job when this happened", adding that she still has a "layer of shame" and still feels "disgusting".
"I hope no one ever has to go through what I did," she said, adding that it changed her life entirely, affecting her mental health, ability to work and her relationships.
Defence counsel Keith Spencer told the court his client came from a good family and had a problem with alcohol and had not taken a drink since the incident and was seeking help.
He said the amount of alcohol he had consumed on the flight was "mind boggling".
