RTÉ journalist found guilty of sexually assaulting woman as she slept

Severe sentence?

Like?

I'm not defending him, I'm just pointing out that people get touched all the time when asleep , but to me the main point is when she said stop he stopped .

I wonder what did she expect him to do after meeting him to discuss the situation because of the way she felt after their encounter...they couldn't undo what ever happened but she obviously expected some kind of recompense for her grievances towards him?

Assuming you're right (I'd ask what evidence you have to reach that conclusion but I doubt you have any), then they're two very different things aren't they. One is sexual assault, the isn't. Similar to if you walked down the town ccenter and got mugged - you might regret your decsion but its not really the point as the mugger is the one who committed a crime. So they're pretty different categories of decision.

You can trivialise the bloke's decision if you want, and say its the same as the woman’s decision, but it would miss the entire point what's happened, wouldn't it?

A wide guess?

Kerchung! €€€€€

Poster said "trying" to have sex with her....

We were discussing the purpose of her meeting with him shortly after the incident Sherlock!

Wandered in here. I’ve believed for a long time that going home with a complete stranger while under the influence is a bad idea for everyone - male and female.

Wait, you don't think she was asleep or you don't think sleep is a state of unconsciousness?

Sure. Lots of sex is initiated while one person is asleep. If that's thier bag then there's no problem. If it's not their bag, then it's sexual assault. If they've discussed it in advance, then there's consent. It they haven't discussed it then it's in the lap of the gods whether it will be greeted with appreciation or a conviction for sexual assault.

Hope that clears it up.

There’s nothing more than a hell of a lot of bravado nonsense talk in this thread tbh. I don’t believe for a minute that any of the lads making claims would do what this man did by climbing on top of a woman while she slept and proceeding to commit sexual assault. Of course he knew what he was doing was wrong, and so do all the lads here winding you up.

Talking about consent or anything else wouldn’t stopped this man doing what he did, it wouldn’t stop anyone who didn’t care that the other person didn’t want to have sex.

Unconsciousness is the state in which a person is unable to respond to stimuli and appears to be asleep. They may be unconscious for a few seconds — as in fainting — or for longer periods of time. People who become unconscious don't respond to loud sounds or shaking.

If I was asleep and someone was touching me I would know, but If I was unconscious i wouldn't know !

It's not a game, it happens.

i have been asleep and my partner has initiated sex with me, sometimes I have responded and sometimes have said " not happening"

Same applies the other way around.

My default position is to put trust in what a jury has decided - they've heard and seen far more of the case than I have. I felt that way following the NI Paddy Jackson case, and I'd feel similarly in this case even though the outcome is different.

I like the principle that if you break a law, you take your punishment and then your debt to society is paid. However it doesn't apply to any crime tagged "sexual".

It may be that this offence lies on the milder end of the scale. If it is, and if he had instead been found guilty of slapping some randomer that he's had an argument with, I might consider that a more serious incident. But this case will probably ruin his life, follow him forever, even if the judge also thinks it's less serious. To be fair, it's theoretical for now as we won't know how serious/mild it is seen to be until the judge gives sentence.

But if he was intent on assaulting her would he have stopped ?

Also you missed my question about her going back asleep in the same bed as man she claims assaulted her shortly before ?

It seems that he himself really convicted himself with his honesty on what happened, possibly believing that what happened was not sexual assault in the sense of real dangerous and predatory. There is always context and levels and shades to this, and he may have felt that what happened was him not in any way being a menace, or dangerous or wanting to hurt; evidenced by his stopping when she said no.

I cannot fathom how anyone could not feel some symapthy for him here. Doesn't mean you have no feelings for the female.

In reality this situation isn't really something that should result in a conviction. He touched her she said stop, he complied. They had been engaged in similar or perhaps more intimate touching previously.

I think his biggest mistake was apologising as he was admitting a more serious wrong doing.

For all the usual suspects here beating their usual drums, there's no hope of getting a reasonable discussion on a topic like this from them so why bother? Nothing is ever taken on board, just let them be.

And she said stop and he stopped. He apologised and said he was horny. It wasnt some random he saw flat out unconscious on the street and decided he would have sex with her

This girl was so traumatised she went back asleep in the same bed as him.

The part where she was so traumatised that she tried to kill herself , yet took a year to report and stayed in the same bed of the man she claims assaulted her ' and then got into a car with him and let him know where she lived !

"The court heard that she was annoyed at the man and told him that she was clearly asleep."

"he woman said she went back to sleep. Later that night he drove her home and over the following days she texted the defendant expressing annoyance at what had happened."

You said he just helped himself, How do you know he was not trying to pleasure her ?