18 year-old sentenced to a Treatment and Supervision Order

An 18-year-old man has been sentenced to a Treatment and Supervision Order at Derry Crown Court after being found guilty of sexual assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping and threatening to kill.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been found unfit to plead at an earlier hearing and a jury heard the evidence in the case and decided he had committed the offences which occurred on March 18 2014.
Judge Philip Babington said that on that date shortly after 8 a.m. two girls were waiting for a school bus when one of them was grabbed from behind and pulled down an embankment by the defendant.
She cried out, but was threatened and told to keep quiet.
The defendant said he wanted to touch her breasts and did so over her clothing before running off.
He was intercepted by local people, who phoned the police and detained him.
Judge Babington said it was ‘a disturbing incident’ and that the girl in question had been affected by her experience.
He said that she now appeared to be much better than she had been.
He commended the girl and her friend for their evidence and said their parents should be proud of them.
Sentencing the man to a Treatment and Supervision Order for three years the judge ordered him to sign the sex offenders register for five years, and imposed a sexual offences prevention order.
This means the man cannot have unsupervised contact with children under 16, cannot consume alcohol, has to live at an approved address and have no contact with the injured party or her friend.