A man who sexually assaulted an "almost unconscious" woman as she lay in bed at a house party has been jailed for six years by the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Chaene Onumwere (19), Belvedere Place, Dublin, was found guilty by a jury following a 16-day trial last October. He denied sexually assaulting the then 22-year- old woman at his home on June 18th, 2004.
Judge Frank O'Donnell described it as a "heinous and serious crime" and said the severity of the offence was higher up the scale because of the location of the semen found on the victim's body and her condition at the time, which he said was equivalent to being "almost unconscious".
He said because she was unconscious during most of the assault, it was not a justification for Onumwere to do what he did and that the line between this offence and a more serious one "was very thin indeed".
Judge O'Donnell said he was acutely aware of the difficulties faced by sex assault victims in having to undergo cross-examination. He noted that the victim had become withdrawn from family and friends since the assault, was nervous of going out by herself, even during the day, and did not like talking to strangers.
Judge O'Donnell placed Onumwere on the sex offenders register and backdated the sentence to July 20th, 2004, when he first went into custody.
The woman told Eanna Mulloy SC, prosecuting, that she had gone to the party after a night out with a friend at a Temple Bar disco where they met four or five Nigerian men who invited them back to Belvedere Place.
She went into a room where she lay down on the bed beside her friend fully clothed before falling asleep. She woke up to find a man holding her down from behind while another man was on top of her.