A former nursing home care manager who sexually assaulted a young woman at a party has been given a suspended sentence on condition he pays his victim €10,000.
Gheorghe Alexandroae (37) was also ordered to carry out 240 hours community service by Judge Desmond Hogan, who noted that many people “spoke very highly” of him and that he had co-operated with the Probation Service.
Defence counsel Phillipp Rahn said Alexandroae worked as a care manager in a nursing home until his conviction. He said he had a master’s degree in social science and had been in a relationship with his girlfriend for six years.
Counsel added that he had no previous convictions and had not come to Garda attention since. Judge Hogan imposed a five-year sentence which he suspended on condition Alexandroae paid €10,000 to his victim as a “token of remorse”. He also ordered him to undergo 12 months of probation supervision.
After hearing the evidence the judge said: “I am inclined to think it was an awfully stupid, regrettable act by the defendant which has caused consequences for the accused and the complainant.”
The 27-year-old victim has since left the country. A victim impact report read out on a previous date stated that she now suffers from depression and has trouble with intimacy.
Alexandroae of Annabel Road, Blackrock, was convicted after trial earlier this year of two counts of sexual assault on the woman in a Dublin house in November 2009.
Garda Brian Fitzgerald told prosecution counsel Karen O’Connor that the woman and her boyfriend were at the same party as Alexandroae. She felt unwell and went upstairs. He entered the bedroom she was in and sexually assaulted her.
The woman had her eyes closed and assumed it was her boyfriend. When she opened her eyes she was shocked to see it was the accused. Her boyfriend later confronted him and kicked him in the face.