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09/08/2012
Pensioner Admits Assaulting Schoolgirl
An 85-year-old man has admitted sexually assaulting a schoolgirl on a Belfast bus.
Thomas Todd, from the Woodstock Road in the city, has been given a three-month suspended jail term for the offence, which took place on December 10, 2010.
Belfast Magistrates' Court heard he sat on beside the 16-year-old, who was in her uniform and on her way home from school, and repeatedly felt her leg as the vehicle travelled along the Woodstock Road.
The court heard that the pensioner also made remarks about boys and joked to the girl about drinking after school, then asked where she lived.
Feeling increasingly uneasy, the girl asked him to get off the bus when he revealed he had missed his stop.
The court was told she went to police after reading a news report about a similar situation involving another teenager.
Todd was later identified and arrested.
The pensioner claimed he could not remember the incident but accepted his behaviour was wrong, a judge was told.
A defence lawyer confirmed Todd is serving a three-year probation order for other unrelated matters.
District Judge Fiona Bagnall said Todd escaped going to jail straight away only because of his existing probation order and his guilty plea.
It emerged that he is already subject to a sexual offences prevention order.
The girl has not been named for legal reasons.
(NE)
Thomas Todd, from the Woodstock Road in the city, has been given a three-month suspended jail term for the offence, which took place on December 10, 2010.
Belfast Magistrates' Court heard he sat on beside the 16-year-old, who was in her uniform and on her way home from school, and repeatedly felt her leg as the vehicle travelled along the Woodstock Road.
The court heard that the pensioner also made remarks about boys and joked to the girl about drinking after school, then asked where she lived.
Feeling increasingly uneasy, the girl asked him to get off the bus when he revealed he had missed his stop.
The court was told she went to police after reading a news report about a similar situation involving another teenager.
Todd was later identified and arrested.
The pensioner claimed he could not remember the incident but accepted his behaviour was wrong, a judge was told.
A defence lawyer confirmed Todd is serving a three-year probation order for other unrelated matters.
District Judge Fiona Bagnall said Todd escaped going to jail straight away only because of his existing probation order and his guilty plea.
It emerged that he is already subject to a sexual offences prevention order.
The girl has not been named for legal reasons.
(NE)
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