Caroline Irwin
A 47-year-old grandmother has been jailed for nine months for sexually assaulting a young man after she ‘forced herself’ on him, grabbed him on the bottom and told him she loved him.
Caroline Irwin, of Carrowshee Park, Lisnaskea, also threatened to blow up a filling station while holding a petrol pump in one hand and a cigarette lighter in the other. She was also convicted of being in possession of cannabis, criminal damage, theft and breaching her bail conditions.
Irwin was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for seven years after she appeared at Fermanagh court by video-link from Maghaberry prison where she was being held in custody.
She had denied sexually assaulting the man but failed to turn up for her trial and was convicted in her absence.
The young man previously told the court the incident happened on November 2, last year.
He described how he was in bed when he got a text message from a friend asking him to go to a house in Lisnaskea, where a woman wanted to pay him £10 for cutting her lawn.
When he went to collect the cash, Irwin was also there.
The young man was asked to carry out bags to a taxi that was waiting for Irwin when she “grabbed me by the backside, four or five times”, the man said.
He also said how Irwin took one of his hands and told him: “You have lovely hands.”
As he walked out the gate, Irwin tried to “give me a love bite” on the neck, but he moved his head to stop her from doing so.
The man added that Irwin also dug her fingernails into him when she grabbed him by the side.
He then told her: “Please stop. I don’t like this.”
Referring to the £10, Irwin told the man: “You’re lucky. You’re coming up here about a tenner when I’ve lost my son.”
She then wrapped her arms around him and tried to “snog him”, saying: “I know you very well and I love you.”
The man described how Irwin and her friend appeared to be “really high” on drugs.
The on November 29 November last year, police were called to Swift’s SuperValu at Main Street, Lisnaskea, where Irwin had threatened to destroy a fuel pump.
A prosecutor went on to explain that Irwin had been causing a disturbance, verbally abusing staff and head-butting a glass door.
The next day the police received a report that Irwin had returned to the filling station and she was seen holding a fuel pump while threatening to light it with her lighter.
Police then received another report that she was back at the filling station trying to set fire to a petrol pump.
The court heard that Irwin stood with a petrol pump in one hand and a cigarette lighter in the other and warning witnesses to get their children away from the area.
She then kicked the petrol pump causing damage. The court was told that a charge of attempted arson was withdrawn by the Public Prosecution Service.
In a separate incident, on August 25, police went to her home in Lisnaskea close to midnight to check if she was there as part of her bail conditions, however Irwin was not at home.
Then on August 28 at around 9.30pm, police returned to her home to find a number of lights on but she did not answer the door. Police went into her home through an unlocked door and shouted ‘police’. She did not answer and police found in the bathroom.
Officers also discovered she had removed her electronic tag and found substance which they believed to be cannabis. She admitted during police interview that she removed the tag and threw it away and that the cannabis belonged to her.
Defence barrister Steffan Rafferty said Irwin should be given credit for admitting all the offences except for the sexual assault.
“She would still maintain there was nothing devious about her actions on that day but accepts the finding of the court,” he stated.
“It’s that charge that causes her the most embarrassment, and indeed shame. It’s the one offence that caused her most anxiety.”
He added that Irwin hadn’t helped herself by avoiding the criminal justice system and not turning up for her trial.
Referring to the incident at the filling station, Mr Rafferty claimed it was “borne out of frustration and desperation on her part” after she attempted to get access to CCTV footage from the filling station following an alleged assault on her.
District Judge Nigel Broderick jailed Irwin for a total of nine months following the litany of offences adding that her denial of the sexual assault aggravated the case because the injured party had to come to court.
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