A man who has received six jail sentences for rape and sexual assault over the last 25 years will remain on bail pending sentence for sexually assaulting a woman on the DART.
Paul Moore (51) assaulted the victim, an au pair, in 2014 as she was travelling home from college. Gardaí examined CCTV footage of the incident, but Moore was not recognised on the video until two years later.
In the meantime, he sexually assaulted two women in separate incidents in the city centre after stopping them in the street and asking them for a cigarette. In 2015, he was jailed for 15 months for these attacks.
In that case, Judge Martin Nolan noted Moore "has a predisposition to violence towards women which manifests as rape and sexual assault".
In 2001, he raped a musician, for which he received 10 years. He raped another woman in 1995, for which he received seven years.
Moore of Mountjoy Square, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexually assaulting the woman on the Dart on August 28th, 2014.
Moore’s defence counsel, Breffni Gordon BL, said he had spent a significant portion of his life in prison. Counsel said there were conflicting opinions on what caused Moore to commit these crimes. One psychiatric report blamed a head injury he received in 1982 while another blamed an “organic personality disorder.”
On Tuesday, Mr Gordon asked the court to hear from Moore's case officer in the Probation Service to see if Moore could "deal with his problems" without going to prison.
Judge Melanie Greally said Moore's inability to desist from offending, no matter what punishment was imposed, was a matter of real concern to the court.
She adjourned sentencing until Monday when she will hear from the case officer and remanded Moore on continuing bail. The judge said any sentence would have to “maximise the ability of the services to supervise Moore”.
Garda Peter Brown told James Dwyer BL, prosecuting, that Moore sat near the young woman on the Dart and started making small talk. He then moved to the seat beside her and began commenting on her clothes.
Moore had a toy turtle in his hand which he said he found on the ground. He said he was looking for a child to give it to.
He told her, “you probably think I’m crazy” and asked why she was laughing even though she wasn’t. The woman tried to ignore the man but he kept talking to her. He began to touch her breasts and then pulled at her trousers. He stopped when another passenger sat near them.
The woman got off the Dart before her stop because she didn’t want Moore to know where she lived.
Garda Brown circulated CCTV of the incident, but no one recognised Moore.
However, when he did so again in 2016, Moore was recognised and arrested. He accepted it was him on the CCTV, but said he could not remember the incident.
Moore’s defence counsel said he lived a very isolated life and had been disowned by his family. He works one day a week in a charity shop.
