Visitor sexually assaulted woman while she slept
Gerald Hewitt, aged 43, of Birdhill, was given a two-year suspended jail sentence at Limerick Circuit Court.
He previously pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the woman on Mar 12, 2011.
Judge Carroll Moran said Hewitt, the son of a retired school principal, had brought shame on himself.
The court was told the accused and others had gone back to the victim’s house after attending a party that day in Limerick.
During the night, Hewitt went to the victim’s bedroom where she was sleeping with her son.
She woke to find the accused performing oral sex on her.
Some weeks later, when the victim rang him to ask why he did it, Hewitt remarked to her “aren’t you overreacting a bit”.
When they met at a funeral Hewitt told her he had never had the opportunity to apologise. He told the victim he did not know what had come over him and medication had caused his libido to be very high.
The victim was advised by her doctor to report the matter to gardaí.
In an impact statement the victim said she felt ashamed, dirty, used and angry. She had to live with the stigma of being a victim of sex abuse and said she had been the victim of gossip because of false accusations made by Hewitt.
She said: “He violated the safety of my home and bedroom. I have had sleepless nights. I have had loss of the energy to life. I thought I was just existing. I screamed in my head for the pain and hurt to go away.”
If he had admitted what he had done, she said, a lot of pain could have been avoided.
