A JUDGE has jailed a 19-year old for carrying out a random sexual assault on a female gym-goer who thought she was going to be raped by the adult teenager on a footbridge in Shannon.
At Ennis Circuit Court on Tuesday, Judge Francis Comerford has imposed a two year, three month prison term with the final six months suspended on Ryan Connors of Caherdavin Meadows, Old Cratloe Road, Limerick.
Judge Comerford said that the combined 27 month prison sentence was for two random offences against females in Shannon “and both offences had a sexual element”.
Judge Comerford said the fact that one offence took place 15 days after the first offence in August 2025 at different locations in Shannon gave the offence a “sinister” element.
Judge Comerford said that the two women suffered as a result of Mr Connors’s offending and both believe that their security had been taken away.
In the case of a sexual assault on the gym goer at 9.45am across a well known foot-bridge in Shannon on August 16th 2025, Judge Comerford imposed a 22-month prison term.
Judge Comerford described the random attack on a stranger as “irrational”.
He said that the sexual assault offence was a borderline between a lower and mid-range offence.
Judge Comerford imposed a five-month prison term on Mr Connors for the stalking offence against the first complainant on August 1st and ordered that the two sentences be consecutive and suspended the final six months.
Judge Comerford also ordered Mr Connors to be under the supervision of the Probation Service post release and after he said he hoped Mr Connors would take the assistance of the Probation Service, Mr Connors said from the Midlands Prison via video-link ‘Thank you judge, appreciate it”.
Mr Connors – who also resided at an address in Shannon – pleaded guilty to the sexual assault of the woman on August 16th last and the sexual assault took place 15 days after he committed a stalking offence against a female airport worker late at night on August 1st at another location in Shannon.
In the case of the sexual assault, the woman had just got off a bus to meet a friend at a local gym in Shannon at around 9.45am on August 16th.
Mr Connors – aged 18 at the time and high on a cocktail of drugs and alcohol- was on the same bus and followed the woman as she walked on a footbridge at Drumgeely, Shannon that traverses the main road to Shannon airport.
Counsel for the State, Sarah Jane Comerford BL said that as the woman got to the second level of the footbridge, Mr Connors grabbed the woman’s backside “really, really tight”.
Ms Comerford (instructed by State Solicitor for Clare, Aisling Casey) said that Mr Connors then pushed her forward into the steps and he reached around and grabbed her breasts roughly.
Ms Comerford said that she felt his hand on her vagina roughly for a split second and all of the touching was outside her clothing.
Ms Comerford said that the woman “was terrified and thought that she was going to be raped”.
In her victim impact statement, the woman recalled the sexual assault and said “I have near felt fear like that in my life. Knowing no one was around to come and help and save you – that you were on your own.”
The Shannon woman said: “All I kept thinking was ‘I will not let you rape me’ as that was what I thought was going to happen to me. I just screamed out loud and constantly asked “Why are you doing this? Please Stop.”
In relation to the stalking offence, Mr Connors followed an airport worker off a bus at around 1.15am to the address where she lived with her fiancé.
Ms Comerford said that Mr Connors said ‘hey, hey, hey’ and the woman was trembling when her key code for her accommodation was not working.
Ms Comerford said that Mr Connors then asked her did she want a ‘hard f**k’ with him and the scared woman managed to open the door to let her into accommodation.
Ms Comerford said that the woman could see Mr Connors slapping the closed door with his fist.
In her victim impact statement, the woman said: “I am thankful that I was able to get away and it did not cause too much harm to me but the difficult part is recovering from that incident.”
Det Garda Roddy Burke told the court that Mr Connors – now aged 19 – has 36 previous convictions including 34 committed before he turned the age of 18.
In a letter to the court, Mr Connors said that he wanted to apologise for his actions.
Counsel for the accused, Patrick Whyms BL said that Mr Connors has previous convictions “but nothing of this nature”.
On the day of the sexual assault, Mr Whyms said that Mr Connors the previous night and that morning had consumed a full litre of Jack Daniels, nine to 10 cans along with grams of cocaine.
Mr Whyms (instructed by solicitor Daragh Hassett) said that Mr Connors had just finished school at the time of the offences and had plans to do an apprenticeship in construction.
Mr Whyms said that Mr Connors is horrified at the state he got himself into and especially the effect it had on him.
Mr Whyms said that the big issue for both injured parties is that they did not know what was going to happen to them.
Mr Whyms said that the stalking offence was isolated and short in duration while the sexual assault involved touching outside the clothes.
