MAN JAILED FOR SEXUALLY ASSAULTING WOMAN IN FRONT OF HER SON OUTSIDE BELFAST HOSPITAL
A man was jailed on Tuesday for sexually assaulting a woman outside a Belfast hospital.Austin Mulvenna, 40, drunkenly targeted the victim in front of her son earlier this year.
Prosecutors said he also started fighting with the other man after being challenged about his actions.
Mulvenna, of Hollybrook Avenue in Newtownabbey, was sentenced to five months in prison.
He approached the other man and his mother while they stood outside the Mater Hospital.
“He began to make inappropriate comments of a sexual nature towards (the woman) and rubbed his hands over her upper thigh,” a Crown lawyer said.
Her son told the defendant to stop and pushed him away from his mother before a verbal argument broke out between the two men.
Both victims were said to have been assaulted during the altercation.
Checks carried out in the area confirmed the incident had been captured on CCTV cameras.
Mulvenna also breached bail conditions at the time by being drunk and in possession of alcohol.
He denied the charges but was ultimately convicted of sexual assault and two counts of common assault.
Defense barrister Michael Boyd described his client as an intelligent and capable man whose life has come apart in recent years.
He stressed Mulvenna’s efforts to undergo rehabilitation for drug and alcohol abuse, and argued that immediate custody could derail his progress.
“He is full of remorse and shame for his conduct,” counsel added.
District Judge Steven Keown imposed five months custody and put him on the sex offenders register for seven years.
Mulvenna was later released on bail pending an appeal against the sentence.
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.
