Limerick woman, 19, ‘stalked’ and attacked while walking home
A DRUG addict who followed and attacked a young woman as she walked home from work has been jailed for four years.
Stephen Power, 29, who has an address at the Path, Garryowen, Limerick pleaded guilty to robbery charges relating to an incident which occurred near Grove Island, Corbally shortly before midnight on January 17, 2019.
Garda Shaun O’Hagan said the 19-year-old victim had finished work at a pub in the city centre a short time earlier.
He said a significant quantity of CCTV was obtained during the investigation and that gardai were able to establish that Mr Power and another man deliberately “stalked” the woman for some time before he attacked her.
Footage played in court shows the two men following the woman at a distance and Mr Power can be seen putting on gloves moments before he grabbed her.
In a lengthy victim impact statement, the woman described how she sustained bruising and a chipped tooth as she was struck across the face.
She said what happened has “turned her life upside down” and that she suffers from PTSD, anxiety and depression.
She said her chipped tooth is a “constant reminder” of what happened that she is still reluctant to take part in social events or to walk home from work alone.
“I’m too scared to do anything in case I would end up the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said in her statement which was read into evidence.
The woman said her relationship with her boyfriend was affected and that she has become “overprotective of my space and boundaries”.
She added that she is constantly feeling paranoid and that she has “not felt like a real person” since the assault.
“The last thing I deserved was to be followed and hit across the face,” she stated.
Imposing sentence, Judge Tom O’Donnell said the victim was “effectively spotted, targeted and stalked” before she was attacked “in a most cowardly way”.
He said the CCTV footage was “chilling to say the least” and he expressed concern that the young woman appears to carrying around some guilt.
The judge said he was factoring in Mr Power’s admissions and his guilty plea.