A 38-year-old man who exposed himself to a schoolgirl on board a bus in Belfast has been jailed for three months.
Anthony Michael Connor was also ordered to pay £1,000 compensation to the teenage victim and placed on the sex offenders’ register for seven years.
District Judge Austin Kennedy declared: “This was a simply appalling incident.”
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Connor, of West Gate in Ballymoney, Co Antrim, pleaded guilty to a single charge of exposure. Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard he targeted the 17-year-old girl while travelling through the city on March 31 this year.
She got onto the bus in her school uniform and sat down behind him on the upper deck. Connor continued to look back at the victim and moved his leg while exposing himself to her.
Police were alerted and arrested the defendant after the double decker stopped in the Albertbridge Road area.
“He made full admissions to exposing himself on the bus,” a prosecutor said.
A defence lawyer told the court Connor is “absolutely devastated” by his actions and wanted to apologise to the girl.
“He accepts full responsibility for what he was doing, has shown great remorse and recognised the distress he has caused,” the lawyer added.
But Mr Kennedy stressed that Connor had moved position on the bus and acted with a clear intention.
Referring to a victim impact statement, he set out how the girl studying for her A-Levels has been left with a feeling of fear.
“It makes for grim reading,” the judge said.
“Only immediate custody is appropriate in the circumstances.”
Imposing three months imprisonment for exposing himself to the teenager, Mr Kennedy told Connor: “You will also be ordered to pay her £1,000 in compensation.”
However, he agreed to release the defendant on bail, pending an appeal against the sentence.
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