A 15-year-old schoolboy has appeared in court charged with the sexual assault of a 50-year-old female teacher on a street.

He was accompanied by his mother to the Co Kerry court where his solicitor said he was of limited intellectual capacity. Reporting restrictions were in place.

The DPP had directed a charge of sexual assault but it was at the lower end on the scale, the court heard.

It was claimed the assault took place one evening last April.

A garda gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution and said the boy made no reply to the charge when he attended a garda station by appointment on September 27.

The boy and the teacher were known to each other as they were at the same school.

Asked to outline exact details of the allegation, the garda witness said: "The teacher was making her way to a shop and she alleges the young man blocked her path. He then grabbed her in a hug and held on to her, and dropped his two hands . . . and squeezed her buttocks.

"The teacher was frozen to the spot – the hug was quite strong and she couldn't move."

The court was also told of an alleged remark after the teacher emerged from a shop where she went to compose herself.

"When she came out she alleges the teenager shouted at her, 'Are you a virgin?' There was laughter by teenagers," the garda said.

BEHAVIOUR

The judge remarked: "This can be boyish behaviour . . . this has always gone on."

The solicitor said: "Another 50-year-old would laugh and say 'Go home, cop yourself on'."

"We will take that into account too," the judge said.

He adjourned his decision on whether he will hear the case or send the teenager forward for trial to next November.

Irish Independent