Derry man who admitted attacking and sexually assaulting disabled woman jailed

A man who admitted attacking and sexually assaulting a disabled woman aged in her sixties outside her city centre flat in Derry last September has been jailed for 28 months at the local Crown Court.

Jack Zammitt (20) from Victoria Court, Victoria Road, in the Waterside area of Derry admitted the attack on the vulnerable victim on September 7 last year.

The court was told the defendant had severe mental health learning difficulties and was assessed as having a mental age of eleven.

Judge Neil Rafferty KC told Zammitt he'll spend ten months of the twenty-eight month sentence in custody and the remaining eighteen months will be spent on statutory supervision following his prison release. 

He also put Zammitt on the sex offender's register for ten years and ordered him not to contact his disabled victim for seven years.

A prosecution barrister described the attack as 'random' and it took place at 7 a.m. after the woman alighted from a taxi outside her flat. Zammitt asked her for a hug and when she refused he followed her, pushing her to the ground.

"He climbed on top of the complainant and was trying to get in between her legs. He began to undress himself removing his t-shirt. The defendant's tracksuit bottoms were down at his ankles. The defendant began touching his penis and asked the complainant to touch it and put in into her mouth. He said he wanted sex", the prosecutor added.

"The complainant was screaming for help and the defendant put his hand over her mouth so she could not shout. He told her his name was Jack and he began to pull her trousers down. He tried to get between the complainant's legs and she screamed for help again. He touched her vagina with his hands and her underwear had come down with her trousers", the barrister said.

The prosecutor said police arrived and shouted for the defendant to stop and added that the victim was 'clearly distressed and scared'.

Defence barrister Sean Doherty described Zammitt's behaviour as "abominable, despicable and egregious". He said Zammitt's I.Q. was assessed as fifty-six putting him in the extremely low range with a mental age of eleven and he described Zammitt as a vulnerable young adult.

Judge Rafferty said after his arrest Zammitt told the police in the company of both his solicitor and an appropriate adult "it's in my brain, there's two different people. There's Jack and Jamie. Jamie is evil, he is his own person and does stuff that Jack does not like. I'm not a violent person but he is, he's a very angry person". 

Zammitt told the police he had no memory of the incident nor did he know why he was in that part of the city centre at the time.

Judge Rafferty said in her victim personal statement the complainant wrote about her constant flashbacks.

Judge Rafferty said he took into consideration that reports before him referred to the compulsive side of Zammitt's character and to his chaotic lifestyle during his turbulent teenage years. The reports also stated that Zammitt was assessed as a high likelihood reoffender but moderate in terms of sexual offences and that he did not pose a risk of causing serious harm.