A former RTÉ journalist from South Kerry has been jailed for 15 months for sexually assaulting a woman while she was sleeping.
Mícheál Ó Leidhin of Sunnyside, Malahide Road, Artane was convicted by a jury last April.
The former political reporter for Raidió na Gaeltachta is originally from Ballinskelligs.
The incident occurred at his flat in Dublin after a night out in May, 2018.
At Mícheál Ó Leidhin’s sentence hearing, the complainant told the court the assault left her traumatised and feeling lost in the world.
Defence for the 38-year-old, who previously denied the claims, told the Circuit Criminal Court that he now accepts the verdict of the jury.
Mr Ó Leidhin and the complainant were out drinking together on May 2013 when they both went back to his flat.
Prosecuting council previously told the court that the two engaged in consensual foreplay but did not have sex.
The woman fell asleep and woke later to find the accused on top of her groping her breasts.
Delivering her own victim impact statement today, the complainant said she went into a state of depression and couldn’t get public transport for a long time because the touch of a stranger was unbearable.
She also criticised the justice system, saying the three year wait for the case to be heard was completely unacceptable and that it forced victims of sexual violence to be stuck in a state of trauma.
Handing down the sentence, Ms Justice Karen O’Connor noted that Mícheál Ó Leidhin is a person of prior good character who lost a “prominent and promising” career in the media in the wake of conviction and that she considered him a low risk of reoffending.
She sentenced him to 18 months with the final three suspended, to begin on August 1st.
