A 41-year-old man who pleaded guilty to what was described as an horrendous sexual assault on a Ryanair cabin crew member has avoided a jail sentence after handing over €2,500 compensation to his victim.
Arturs Nagornijs , a construction company director who is from Latvia and based in Nice, France, was travelling from Nice to Riga and had taken connecting flights through Stansted and Dublin on Tuesday when the incident occurred.
He was released on bail with strict conditions until today to allow him access funds for the compensation.
Finalising the case, Judge Treasa Kelly took into account his early guilty plea and the fact that he had complied with bail terms, paid compensation and apologised through his solicitor.
Defence solicitor Eoin Lysaght asked the court to leave his client with a clean record, but the judge refused and recorded a criminal conviction.
However, she made no further order and did not impose any other penalty.
On Wednesday, Dublin District Court heard that Nagornijs had been observed by cabin crew acting erratically and lying across the lap of an elderly woman who was sitting beside him.
He was repeatedly asked by cabin crew to sit up and did so initially but then lay down again and continued to annoy the elderly passenger.
When the plane landed he locked himself in a toilet. He then left the toilet but refused to leave the plane and sat on a seat where he urinated on himself, the seat and the floor.
A young cabin crew member tried to communicate with him, asking where his passport and shoes were.
Due to language difficulties, she turned to a colleague asking them to get Google Translate.
As she turned she felt a hand up her skirt and was sexually assaulted by Nagornijs.
She jumped back in shock and became upset, telling colleagues "I can't do this".
The court was told she was just weeks in the job.
The judge was told the victim was happy for the case to go ahead without a victim impact statement if the defendant was pleading guilty and the court was given the full facts of the case and her condition.
Gardaí said she was extremely distressed by the incident and could not work on her return flight.
She remained extremely distressed, the court was told.
Mr Lysaght told the court his client had too much to drink and had no recollection of the incident.
Judge Kelly described the incident as despicable and said she had no doubt the young woman went through "a horrendous" ordeal.
