Judge convicts young man of sexually assaulting woman at Cork city bus stop

The court heard the incident happened while the woman was waiting for a bus in Cork city. File picture: Denis Minihane

A young man who denied sexually assaulting a young woman as she sat on a bench on Grand Parade in Cork waiting for a bus has been convicted of the crime.

32-year-old Adam Boyle of St. John’s Well, Fairhill, Cork, denied the charge, but after hearing evidence in the trial at Cork District Court Judge Marian O’Leary convicted him.

The young woman, who is not identified because of the nature of the offence, testified that the man first approached her at about 10pm in the evening as she waited for a bus and asked her if she was alright and started chatting to her. She told him she was going to a part of Cork where she was not going.

“I got the impression he was drunk. I noticed him walk up to the bus stop. He wasn’t too steady on his feet,” she said.

Defence solicitor, Eddie Burke, asked if the accused was very intoxicated and she replied: “A good bit.” The witness testified that he leaned over her and gestured. 

“I thought he was gesturing towards something. I thought he was pointing or maybe picking something up. I looked to my left and he grabbed my breast. When I got up he got up,” she said.

The young woman made a complaint to gardaí that a man had groped her breast when she was waiting for a bus.

Garda Muireann Fleming and Garda Iain King examined CCTV and identified the suspect, Adam Boyle, 32, with an address at St. John’s Well, Fairhill.

Garda Fleming and Det. Garda Lorna Healy questioned the accused who told them: “I come in every day for my methadone. I am on 30 mls a day.” He said he would go drinking and added: “I am usually langers.” 

When the allegation was put to him of the sexual assault, he said: 

I want to apologise sincerely to that girl. I cannot say I did anything. If I did, I apologise.

It was put to him in the garda interview: “You know you cannot touch someone without their consent?” Adam Boyle replied: “Yeah, I know that. If it is me, I apologise.” 

In evidence in court he said: “There was never anything like this (against me) before.” He said he fell down beside the young woman and could only remember that much. He said that if he touched her he did not do it intentionally.

Later when cross-examined by Inspector James Hallahan, the defendant said: “I didn’t touch her breast. I didn’t go near her breast. I fell back. That is all I can remember.” 

Judge Marian O’Leary said: “On the basis of the evidence he is not in a position to deny it. I find her evidence credible. The State has reached the threshold to prove this. I find him guilty.” Judge O’Leary put the case back for a week for a victim impact statement to be prepared.

The defendant was convicted of carrying out a sexual assault on the woman in her twenties at Grand Parade, Cork, on the evening of June 7, 2021.