The mother of a teenager who was sexually assaulted has criticised the "pathetic" sentence her attacker received.
Patrick McErlane, from Lenadoon in West Belfast, was given a three-month sentenced suspended for two years after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl at her home.
The 33-year-old was also fined and disqualified from driving after pleading guilty to driving under the influence and failing to stop at an accident.
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It follows an incident on April 18, 2021, when McErlane had been at the 15-year-old victim's home drinking.
Speaking to Belfast Live, the girl's mother said that during the course of the night, her daughter had gone upstairs to sleep in a bedroom while she later fell asleep on the settee.
She says that while she was asleep, McErlane went upstairs to her sleeping daughter and sexually assaulted her, with the mum waking up to the sound of her telling McErlane to leave her alone.
She said: "When I woke up on the settee, all I could hear was my daughter shouting at him to leave her alone and to get out of the room. He had tried to offer her money to stay quiet but she refused.
"I went straight up the stairs and he tried to block me from going in and seeing her, before he ran out of the house and drove off in a car.
"After that he ended up crashing the car and police later caught up with him."
The mum says that since the incident her daughter has been scared to go back to the bedroom where the assault took place and has received counselling.
The incident has also had an affect on her mental health and has expressed her dismay at the "light" sentence McErlane had received.
She said: "Since the assault on my daughter took place it has been very difficult for both of us. Thankfully she has been able to receive some counselling, but she will not ever go back into the bedroom where it took place.
"My head has been all over the place since it happened and having to go through the court case was also very difficult for us to go through.
"We are glad that he has been found guilty, but I feel the sentence he received was pathetic, it was basically a slap on the wrist for him, but I hope that it will at least stop him from doing this to someone else."
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