A man who sexually assaulted an 82-year-old nun suffering from Alzheimer's at a Dublin convalescent home has been jailed for two years by Judge Katherine Delahunt.
Denis Cummins (61), from Griffith Parade, Finglas East, pleaded guilty in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexually assaulting the now-deceased nun on February 17th, 2005.
Cummins was caught kissing and fondling the victim by another nun who had been cleaning her en-suite bathroom.
Judge Delahunt said the victim was very vulnerable and that this offence would raise concerns for such institutions as to how this could have happened.
She accepted that Cummins he had co-operated with gardaí and had apologised to the family. She placed him on the sex offenders' register and ordered that he carry out two years post-release supervision on release from prison.
Garda Paul Darley told the court that when Cummins was challenged by the nun who witnessed the assault, he told her he had only given the woman a kiss and some chocolate and implied that he hadn't done anything inappropriate.
He later admitted to gardaí that he had deliberately touched her vagina and kissed her lips but said he didn't remember fondling her breasts. He had no previous convictions.