Connacht Tribune
Suspended sentence for man convicted of sex assault
A 29-year-old Williamstown man who sexually assaulted a woman as she slept in a friend’s house, has been given a suspended two-year sentence and placed under probation supervision for a year by a Circuit Court judge who believes he has suitably rehabilitated himself and now poses a low risk of reoffending.
Brian Finnegan, from Kilsallagh, Williamstown, went to his parish priest to look for guidance shortly after he sexually assaulted the then-22-year-old woman while he was a guest in a house at University Road in Galway city, on October 15, 2017.
He was subsequently questioned by Garda Vicky Duggan and admitted to her he had ‘tried it on’ with the victim who was alone in the bedroom.
The DPP had directed the charge could be dealt with at District Court level if Finnegan entered a guilty plea, but he pleaded not guilty when the matter came before Galway District Court in 2018 and was sent forward for trial to the higher court.
He changed his plea to guilty in the Circuit Court in October 2019, and sentence was adjourned to February 2020 for the preparation of a victim impact statement and for a probation report on Finnegan.
Garda Vicky Duggan told the sentence hearing then that the young woman had returned to her friend’s house following a girl’s night out and had gone to sleep in her friend’s bed alone.
She woke up during the night to find Finnegan on top of her. She tried to push him off and get up, but he pushed her back onto the bed before sexually assaulting her.
She shouted for help when she saw Finnegan attempting to take off his boxer shorts and managed to push him off her as her friend came into the room to assist her. Finnegan was told to leave the house immediately afterwards.
He was subsequently interviewed by Garda Duggan who told the court: “He admitted he didn’t know the woman, and had ‘tried it on’ but nothing else happened.”
The woman became upset at times while reading her victim impact statement to the court.
“He took advantage of me. I woke up to the horror of him trying to undress me against my own free will. I was living a nightmare, I cried so much that night,” she said.
The incident had left her feeling angry, sad, lonely and sick, she said. She felt she had become a burden to her family and boyfriend and she was always fearful that people would judge her if they knew she had been sexually assaulted.
“I get angry and sad when I hear the words ‘sexual assault’ and ‘rape’,” she sobbed.
Defence barrister, Michael Clancy, apologised to the woman on behalf of his client.
“He was so distraught about this that before telling his family, he went to his parish priest and he gave him guidance on how to deal with this in the appropriate manner,” Mr Clancy said.
A letter from his employer at a Roscommon meat factory along with a “glowing tribute” from his former football club, and a letter from the parish priest were also handed into court.
Judge Rory McCabe said this had been a reckless and unsolicited attempt by the accused to engage in sexual contact with an innocent victim who woke to find him on top of her.
Noting Finnegan had been automatically placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register following his guilty plea, the judge said that while that was a significant penalty in itself, it was justified due to Finnegan’s ‘grossly offensive conduct’.
He placed the headline sentence – before aggravating and mitigating circumstances were taken into account – at three years but adjourned finalisation of sentence to last week’s court to allow the Probation Service complete a full risk assessment of the accused.
Reports outlining Finnegan’s compliance with the Service and his successful rehabilitation to date were handed into court last week.
The risk assessment stated he had been at moderate risk of reoffending for sexual offences up to last year but that risk was now reduced to ‘low’ as he was doing courses around the issue of consent and sexual assault and had also stopped drinking, taking drugs and had begun to save and not get into debt any more. The Service offered to supervise Finnegan for a further twelve months if the court so wished.
Judge McCabe said the interests of justice would not be served by the imposition of a custodial sentence. He imposed the two-year sentence, suspended for five years and placed Finnegan under the supervision of the Probation Service for the next twelve months.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
