Prison for Derry man who sexually assaulted woman in Buncrana park

A man who sexually assaulted a young woman in a park in Buncrana after "reading the wrong signals" has been jailed for three years.

Billy Diver appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court after pleading guilty to the sexual assault at Swan Park on the evening of June 24, 2020.

Diver, now aged 26, was with another friend when he saw two young women, aged 19, sitting on a bench in the park during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Garda Keith Conlon outlined the incident, led by state barrister Ms Fiona Crawford, BL.  

It was around 8pm and the young women were walking around the park and two young men began chatting to them.

The women began walking on and the two young men turned up again.

Suddenly one of the men grabbed one of the women and "dragged" her into some trees and grabbed her by the backside.

The woman then told Gardai how the man then grabbed her right hand and forced it onto his penis. As she broke free the man then touched her vagina over her jeans.

The woman said she was scared and moved across the grass area but the young men came over to them again. The same man then put his hand on her thigh and then began to put his hand over her vagina again before he put his hand down the back of her trousers and grabbed her backside.

She jumped her and phoned a friend and was crying at this stage but the young man “grabbed her ass” again and was trying to kiss her on the neck and lips despite her consistently asking him to stop.

The two men then got into a van, but the young woman was able to take a picture of the accused as other people present came to the assistance of the victim.

A mother and daughter who were also in the area also managed to get videos of the men leaving and they told Gardai what they had seen. They approached another couple and asked them to talk to them as they were both very stressed and speaking very quickly.

This couple contacted Gardai with a description of the van.

Gardai arrived a short time later to find two distressed females who flagged them down and provided them with details of what had happened and a possible name of one of the men.

Some time later a man presented himself at Buncrana Garda Station saying he wanted to report an incident of being hassled by people in the park including a mother and daughter who were filming him. That individual turned out to be the accused man.

When questioned by Gardai about the alleged incident, Diver said the incidents between him and the young woman were consensual, that she had taken his hands, smiled and they went behind a ditch.

He said he then noticed that he was being recorded.

Diver's clothing was then seized by investigating Gardai and he was then identified at the scene by phone footage.

The court was told that Diver is from Derry and that he has no previous criminal convictions.

A victim impact statement from the young woman told how her life changed on that day.

Simple things like leaving her home causes her great anxiety, she constantly looks over her shoulder fearing she will be attacked again when she once felt safe. She has frequent nightmares reliving her trauma and cannot visit Swan Park again as it brings back so many traumatic moments.

She has feelings of depression, shame and self-blame even though she knows it was not her fault and cannot trust others and cannot form new relationships. She told how she has had to take time off work to attend counselling and that was a financial strain while her studies and career progression have also been affected.

"It has changed the course of my life and I am scarred for life inside," the victim said. 

Barrister for the accused, Mr Peter Nolan BL, said it was his client's view that there were “signals” coming from this young lady and that he misinterpreted them.

He said the women had looked over at Diver and his friend and began giggling at them and that he misread the situation and approached them.

Mr Nolan said his client had never tried to hide or deny anything and that in his full memo of interview.

Diver's barrister said he put it that his client had misread the situation and should have been more careful.

Addressing his client's background, Mr Nolan said Diver had left school at 14 as he was not academic but had a full history of employment and works in Northern Ireland as a labourer.

The Probation Service had placed him in the moderate to high risk of reoffending, that he has no medical issues and that he is capable of community service and is also willing to comply with the Probation Services. 

Mr Nolan again reiterated that Diver had “misread the signals very, very, badly” and that he needs some maturity to his sexual behaviour but is entirely sorry for what he did.

Diver took to the witness stand and said he would like to "deeply apologise" to the woman for the offence that happened saying his apology was from "the bottom of my heart."

He added that he understood the seriousness of the situation and that he was deeply apologetic.

Passing sentence, Judge John Aylmer said this was a "very nasty sexual assault on a young woman in a public park”, adding there was no question of her behaviour to you and that it was clear that she was being harassed and set upon by Diver.

He added that it was clearly a very frightening experience for the young woman noting she still suffers from anxiety and depression for the last four years.

Judge Aylmer placed the offence in the mid range of such offences and one which merits a sentence of four years in prison before mitigation.

He noted there was a late plea to the charge which was nevertheless valuable in these cases, that he has no previous convictions and that he was a very young man of 20 at the time.

He said the Probation Service in Northern Ireland placed him at a moderate to high risk of reoffending because of his minimisation and tendency to victim blame when, the Judge said, "you have absolutely no grounds to blame her for anything, as it is clear that you were the predator preying on her and that was clear to all watching what was going on."

Judge Aylmer added that he will reduce the sentence to one of three years and that he considered suspending some of that sentence.

However, because of the report of the Probation Service and the accused man's minimisation and victim blaming, he was not minded to suspend any portion of the three-year sentence.