CASE DISMISSED | 

Pub-goer groped woman as he tried to move her out of his way at bar

McCann, a council waste disposal worker of Balcurris Park West, Ballymun, pleaded guilty to sexual assault but was spared a conviction

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A pub-goer who groped a woman while trying to move her out of his way at a bar has been spared a conviction for sexual assault.

Anthony McCann (52) had no sexual intentions and got no gratification from the assault, a court heard.

Judge Michael Connellan dismissed the case under the Probation of Offenders Act at Dublin District Court.

McCann, a council waste disposal worker of Balcurris Park West, Ballymun, pleaded guilty to sexual assault.

Detective Sergeant Donal O’Shea told the court the incident happened while the accused was socialising in a north Dublin pub and had a “significant amount of alcohol consumed”.

The victim was trying to pass him out to go to the bar when he shoved two fingers into “her vaginal area”, but without any penetration.

The woman immediately slapped him across the face and made a complaint to gardaí.

When CCTV was viewed, gardaí saw another earlier incident involving McCann and a man but there was no complaint in relation to this.

There was “a lot of alcohol taken” and McCann fully accepted what he did, his solicitor Holly Laher said. There was no sexual intention behind what happened – he was just trying to move the woman away and there were “unintended consequences”.

Sgt O’Shea accepted McCann’s actions were not for any sexual gratification.

The accused, who had mild learning difficulties, had no previous convictions of any kind and had not come to garda attention before or since the incident.

Ms Laher asked the judge to be as lenient as he could in the circumstances.

The judge said he was taking account of the very early guilty plea and the fact that McCann fully cooperated with gardaí and accepted the seriousness of what happened. He applied the Probation Act, leaving McCann without a recorded conviction.