A Ryanair passenger has begged for forgiveness after sexually assaulting an air stewardess on a flight to Ireland.
Aaron Brady, 31, had consumed a ‘mind-boggling’ amount of alcohol before he assaulted the woman on an inbound flight to Dublin Airport last year.
Brady has pleaded guilty to the charge and said he is ‘really, really sorry, sincerely.’
Taking the stand, Brady said he drank around five bottles of wine with his partner at the airport before boarding the flight and potentially between 12 and 15 mini bottles of alcohol during the flight.
The woman said she was taking a break in the crew area of the aircraft’s back galley.
Brady came in and started chatting to the woman and two of her colleagues who were also present.
He showed them his foot, then put it on the woman’s lap. She pushed it away.
She realised Brady was drunk and noticed he was slurring his words and had drink stains on his trousers.
Brady then felt the inside of her left leg with his hand over clothing, grabbed her head and kissed her cheek.
She moved her head, then he grabbed it and moved it towards his groin. Her head touched his groin.
The woman said she was in shock. She described Brady starting to remove his top during the incident, before going into the toilet.
When he came out, he hugged her, then placed his hand on her outer thigh, rubbing it and her buttocks over her clothing.
The woman pushed him away and made her way to the front of the cabin, where the captain was alerted, then made the report to authorities on the ground of a disruptive passenger.
Brady later told gardai he had been on his way home from a holiday with his partner and had no memory of what happened.
‘I was only doing my job when this happened’, the victim said.
She said she fell in love with flying when she joined Ryanair, but has since resigned.
She said she feels there is a ‘layer of shame over me’ and ‘still feels disgusting’.
‘The road to recovery feels long and unreachable,’ the woman said, adding that she is taking it one day at a time.
‘Life hasn’t been the kindest to me, and what happened is an extra heavy load,’ she said.
Brady said he was ‘really, really sorry, sincerely’ and said his offending was ‘out of character’.
‘I can’t believe it, I’m so sorry for the trauma it has caused you. It’s not me at all…I’m really, really sorry’.
Judge Jonathan Dunphy asked him if he had been banned for life from Ryanair flights, with Brady telling him the ban was for five years.
‘I understand it is for life’, the judge noted.
Keith Spencer BL, defending, said the amount of drink taken by Brady before boarding and on the flight ‘is almost mind-boggling’.
He said he is addressing his drinking problem and has not had a drink in a year.
Mr Spencer said his client deeply regrets what happened, did not intend it to occur, is ashamed and apologetic.
Counsel asked the court to consider his client’s early guilty plea, good work record in an ice cream factory and the contents of a probation report.
He noted his client had €5,000 available as a gesture of remorse, which the court heard the woman is willing to accept.
Mr Spencer said his client is willing to repay the woman’s expenses and could save another €5,000 if given more time.
Judge Dunphy said he would adjourn the case to June for finalisation to allow Brady to address the woman’s expenses outlined in the victim impact statement.
He directed that the €5,000 should be paid over within the next 24 hours for onward transmission to the woman.
He said he would ‘somewhat reluctantly’ remand Brady on continuing bail so he could continue to work, adding that the court’s concern was the losses experienced by the woman.
Addressing the woman, Judge Dunphy said he was grateful for her attendance, and said he wanted to finalise the case ‘in the right way so that everyone can move on from this’.
Garda Sinead Murphy told Tessa White BL, prosecuting, that when gardai boarded the flight after being alerted to a disruptive passenger on board, they met Brady, who was intoxicated and causing distress to other passengers.
She said they told Brady they had been called to the plane due to his behaviour. He resisted arrest and had to be handcuffed before he was escorted from the plane to Dublin Airport Garda Station.
He was initially charged with offences under the Air Navigation and Transport Act 1973, before he was released.
Brady has one previous conviction for failing to report a hit and run, for which he received a €400 fine.
Gda Murphy agreed with Mr Spencer that his client’s previous conviction dates to 2016 and relates to a collision with a stationary vehicle in which no other parties were involved.
It was further accepted that Brady was deemed unfit for questioning initially due to his level of intoxication.
The garda also agreed that Brady’s partner was asleep during the flight and told gardai at the time this was out of character for him.
In her victim impact statement read to the court by Gda Murphy, the woman described experiencing intense panic, anxiety and nightmares.
She said she is on a waiting list to see a psychologist as she knows she needs professional support.
She said she is happy her voice is being heard, and the defendant is held accountable for what he did.
‘I hope no one else has to go through what I did’, she said, adding that her life has changed entirely and that she will have to carry this every day.
Brady plays on the senior team for his local GAA club. He also has a history of depression.
Mr Spencer said his client is not seeking to avoid his responsibility and experiences ‘extreme shame’ for his offending. He said his client is ‘asking for the forgiveness of the complainant even though I know that may not be easy to give or forthcoming’.
