An Irishwoman who was sexually assaulted at a funeral has told of the emotional trauma resulting from the event.
Derry woman Oonagh Hughes was attacked at the service for her father-in-law.
The mum-of-four was 48 when the horrific incident happened.
John Shivers, from Magherafelt, Co Derry, was convicted of sexual assault in December, BelfastLive reports.
Yesterday at Antrim Magistrates Court he was sentenced to 220 hours’ community service and told he will be on the sexual offences register for five years.
He was also told to pay £1,000 in compensation to Mrs Hughes.
She said: “This process has been horrendous. What happened was traumatic enough but the court process has taken such a long time that we have not been able to move on with our lives.
“Even up until the last minute there have been delays and stumbling blocks. The temptation is to give up but for me that was not the right thing to do.”
Sentencing Shivers yesterday, Judge Nigel Broderick said: “I recognise this has been a difficult exercise, not least for the complainant.”
He added it was “quite clear” to him the impact of the sexual assault had been “quite profound”.
The court heard Shivers had sat down beside Mrs Hughes on the evening of the funeral on September 30, 2016, and had put his leg between hers.
Prosecuting barrister Breige Gilmore said Shivers had then put his hand up Mrs Hughes’ thigh, near her underwear and she had “tried to make sure” he didn’t “go any further”.
Ms Gilmore told the court other people then approached the pair and her daughter “came towards them and observed Shivers had his hand up her mother’s dress”.
The barrister added when he was challenged Shivers “did not reply and left the bar”.
Yesterday the accused’s barrister Stephen Toal said the accused intended to appeal his conviction and he had felt the “stress” of the drawn-out court process, adding the delays had not been down to his client.
Mr Toal also told the court Shivers no longer drank alcohol and was in the lowest category in risk for intervention in terms of sexual offences.
Before the assault, Mrs Hughes felt secure in her life and had recently celebrated her silver wedding anniversary with her husband Kevin.
She said: “It was completely shocking. It was something I never could have imagined would happen to me.”
Mrs Hughes, 51, has waived her right to anonymity to tell her story and to share the stark reality of how devastating a sexual assault can be on a victim’s life.
She added: “You think it will be a young woman, a pretty woman at a party. But it’s not about attractiveness – it’s about control. I have chosen to speak out because women need to stand up to men who think pawing and defiling women is OK. It is not OK and it has consequences for everyone involved.”
Mrs Hughes, from Castledawson, Co Derry, said the impact of the assault was huge on her family.
She added: “For a while it dominated every conversation in the house and inevitably my children and my husband worried about me and I worried about what it was doing to them.
“It has caused problems within our wider circle too because some people wanted me to drop the whole thing, which was incredibly upsetting but the court process is over now and we want to get our lives back.
“For a long time I struggled to sleep and they worried about my mood, my health and the fact I’ve struggled at times to cope with ordinary tasks.
“But all I could think was how I would feel if it happened again to someone else and I’d not gone through with it.
“If some other poor woman had to go through that same horrendous experience.
“I couldn’t let it happen and people have to know this is not OK.”
