THE SENTENCING OF a man convicted of a sex attack on a woman during a date arranged through the Tinder dating app has been adjourned to allow the prosecution clarify his previous convictions.
The 36-year-old Dublin man was convicted last month by a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of sexually assaulting the woman on UCD campus, south Dublin on 23 July 2014.
The jury of six men and six women took around 90 minutes to return a unanimous verdict of guilty on the single count.
Paul Burns SC, prosecuting, told Judge Cormac Quinn that the prosecution needed to get formal records of the man’s previous convictions from another European country when he was a minor.
Defence lawyer Paul Flannery SC said they wanted to seek the opinion of a criminal lawyer from that country on whether these convictions were “spent” or expunged under that country’s law and whether they can be taken into account in this case.
Flannery also asked the court to order a psychiatric report.
The case will be back before the court next week for legal argument relating to the issue of previous convictions. Judge Quinn adjourned sentencing to 2 March and remanded the man in continuing custody.
The trial heard that the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had met the woman on Tinder and had chatted online for some weeks before arranging to meet up.
The English language student told the trial that she was using Tinder to meet Irish people to practice speaking. She said she believed they were meeting to go for a coffee.
After driving the complainant to a secluded field on the campus the woman said his demeanour changed completely and he became like “a monster”.
She said he attacked her and she was in fear of her life and thought the man was going to rape her.
The man had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexually assaulting the woman on UCD campus, south Dublin on 23 July 2014.
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