A young farmer sexually assaulted a woman on the dance floor at Copper Face Jacks nightclub during his first ever trip to a “Dublin disco”.
aul Harrington (26) approached the woman “out of nowhere” and grabbed her by the genitals, leaving her in shock.
He had denied the charges, alleging that he accidentally touched her around her waist.
Judge John Hughes adjourned the case, saying that Harrington had been so drunk that he ran off before the attack and hugged complete strangers.
Judge Hughes reminded the club of its legal responsibilities not to serve intoxicated people.
Harrington, of Shannonharbour, Birr, Co Offaly, had pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the woman at the Harcourt Street club on 7 July 2019.
The victim told the Dublin District Court that she went there with friends after a Westlife concert in Croke Park.
As she exited the restrooms at Copper Face Jacks, “out of nowhere a young man came up to me,” walked by, and “grabbed me forcefully by my vaginal area,” she said.
She was “shaken and shocked” and told her boyfriend what had happened.
The victim was in “a frozen state,” so her boyfriend went to security and pointed to Harrington, who was brought in and said, “I’m so sorry.”
Outside, she heard Harrington say that he “didn’t touch me in that area,” but touched her “back and shoulder.”
She was so shocked that she just wanted to go home. She reported the incident to Gardaí the next day.
During the cross-examination, the woman agreed with attorney Shane Geraghty that Harrington hadn’t harassed her before.
“It was a completely random incident” and a “forceful hold” on her genitals and “nowhere else,” she said.
A security consultant at Copper Face Jacks said Harrington was also “crying and upset” when told of the allegation.
Garda Shane Monaghan said in an interview Harrington initially said he couldn’t remember what had happened before and said, “I didn’t.”
As proof, he said friends asked him to come to Dublin for the night and that they were staying at the Harcourt Hotel.
“It was my first time ever in Dublin, I don’t go out at all,” he said.
They had “quite a few” drinks in a number of pubs before going to the club, where he “danced away”.
He had reached out when he accidentally touched a person around the waist, he said.
He accepted that there was contact, but said, “I never had any intention of doing anything. It was just pure coincidence.”
During a cross-examination by state attorney Mairead White, he accepted that he was seen on CCTV footage of him stepping directly over to the victim and extending his hand, but said he “just held out my hand.”
When the complaint was filed, Harrington was “crying screaming” and not fleeing, which “wasn’t the mentality of a sexual predator,” Mr Geraghty argued.
Ms. White said the grab was not an accident, but deliberate.
Judge Hughes said the prosecution had been proven. Harrington had no previous convictions.
In a victim statement, the woman says that she no longer feels safe on her own.
“I’m constantly looking over my shoulder and thinking something like this is going to happen to me again,” she said.
The accused, who worked in Bord na Móna, had never set foot wrong, Mr Geraghty said. He acknowledged that drunkenness was not a defense.
It was a “sad case,” and a conviction could potentially haunt him for the rest of his life. He was willing to offer compensation.
Judge Hughes said it may not have been the accused’s first nightclub, but it was his “first nightclub in Dublin”.
He noted that the accused apologized and postponed the case for a probation report and full mitigation before closing the case.