Thurles man jailed for prostitute assault

A Thurles man has been jailed for three years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court for an aggravated sexual assault on a prostitute in Cork city in June 2000.

David Power (aged 20), from Brittas, Thurles, pleaded guilty to the aggravated sexual assault of a 28-year-old prostitute in a car park near Fitton Rd in Cork around midnight on June 2, 2000.

He was a member of the Irish Army at the time, attached to Collins Barracks in Cork, but has since left the defence forces.

Mr Justice Carney suspended the last year of the sentence, taking into account Power's guilty plea.

Detective Garda Donal O'Connell told prosecuting counsel, Mr Michael Counihan SC (with Ms Alice Fawsitt BL) that Power approached the woman on Fitton St around midnight and agreed with her that she would masturbate him for £40.

She took him to a nearby car park attached to a hotel. As they walked in the gate, he grabbed her by the back of the head and pushed her to the ground.

Det Gda O'Connell said she fell on her face and Power pulled down her lower garments. He twisted her right arm behind her, knelt on her back and grabbed her throat when she tried to scream. She managed to elbow him in the chest and knock him backwards.

The victim ran away but noticed he was following her so she started screaming again. Some men nearby and staff at the hotel heard her and came to her assistance. Power ran off when he saw them.

Gardai were called and went to inspect the car park. When they were there, Power returned looking for his jacket. The gardai identified him from her description and arrested him.

Det Gda O'Connell said the woman had since stopped working on the streets and is very reluctant to discuss the attack. She did not come to court for the sentence hearing as she said it would be too traumatic for her.

Power told defence counsel, Mr Thomas Creed SC (with Mr John Devlin BL), that he had tried to get into a sexual offenders treatment programme but had to wait until his sentence was dealt with.

He said he wanted to apologise in public to the woman for the attack and to his family for the trouble he had caused them.

Mr Creed told the court Power had been convicted of another aggravated sexual assault in October last year and sentenced to five years with one year suspended. He said that offence happened subsequently to this one.

He added Power had suffered sexual abuse as a young child and psychiatric reports suggested the manner in which this abuse was revealed may have had an adverse effect on him.

Mr Creed noted all reports recommended Power participate in sexual offenders treatment programmes as the counsellor believed he would benefit from such treatment.