A Co Antrim man who dragged a shop worker to a Viagra display where he declared that he needed a “shock to his c***” as he groped her narrowly avoided going to jail today.
District Judge Nigel Broderick told Norman McCreesh his offending was so serious that it warranted a prison sentence. However, while he imposed a five-month sentence, Judge Broderick suspended it for three years based primarily on the 52-year-old having a clear record.
Although Judge Broderick declined to impose a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO), he did make McCreesh subject to a three-year restraining order, barring him from contacting his victim or going to the shop where she works.
At the end of a brief contest earlier this year, McCreesh, from the Curran Road in Larne, was convicted on a single charge of sexual assault.
Today at Antrim Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena, a prosecutor told Judge Broderick that it was on February 5 this year when a man entered the shop where the victim was working and, grabbing her by the arm, “pulled her to the area where the Viagra is kept”.
“The male told her that he required a ‘shock to his c***’. And as he said this he grabbed her around the waist and caressed her mid section, including her stomach and breasts,” said the lawyer, adding that the touching “was without consent and left [the victim] feeling violated”.
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The victim tried to push the male away but she wasn’t able to do so. He then left the shop.
Police enquiries lead officers to McCreesh, who, when arrested and interviewed, accepted that he went to the shop and “he was laughing and saying to himself that he needed someone to give his c*** a shock”.
“He said it was a joke,” the court heard. However, Judge Broderick said he had read the victim impact statement and said it was clear that the victim “continues to suffer emotional trauma” and is worried that McCreesh will come back into the shop.
Although the Public Prosecution Service asked for the judge to impose a SOPO, defence counsel Thomas McKeever argued that such an order was neither necessary nor appropriate.
He emphasised that McCreesh had a clear record and had been assessed by the Probation Board as posing a low risk of reoffending, with no evidence of sexual deviancy.
Sentencing McCreesh, Judge Broderick told him that the ongoing impact on the victim “is an aggravating factor” and that while, ordinarily, a conviction for sex assault would see him jailed, “having particular regard to your clear record I’m going to impose five months’ custody but will suspend that for three years”.
Judge Broderick warned McCreesh, however, that if he breaches the restraining order or commits any further offence, “the likelihood is that you will receive a custodial sentence”.
In addition to the suspended sentence and three-year restraining order, Judge Broderick ordered McCreesh to pay £500 compensation to the victim.