A man who sexually assaulted two women in Dublin City centre and bit one of them as she tried to fight him off has been jailed for four years.
Jambasambuu Ekhtur (25) assaulted both women on separate occasions several months apart, on both occasions attacking the women while they were walking on their own at night in the city.
Ekhtur, with an address at Talbot Hall, Talbot Street, Dublin city centre, pleaded guilty to sexual assault and assault causing harm of a woman at Mount Street Lower, Dublin City centre, on July 14th, 2019.
He also pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a second woman at Talbot Street, Dublin City centre, on October 11th, 2019. He has no previous convictions in this jurisdiction.
Detective Garda Nathan Burke told Diana Stuart, BL, prosecuting, that on the date in July 2019, a young woman had left a group of friends after a night of socialising and was walking alone on Mount Street at around 2AM when her arm was grabbed and a man started dragging her down a laneway.
Det Gda Burke said the woman lashed out with her elbows and legs as he held her from behind and then felt him bite into her shoulder.
She let out a scream, and he reached for the buttons of her jeans and began to open them, Det Gda Burke said.
“When he put his hands on my trousers I thought I’d be raped or sexually assaulted,” the woman said as she read her victim impact statement to the court. “I was fighting so I wouldn’t be.”
Det Gda Burke said the woman was able to break free and escape the laneway, eventually withdrawing cash from an ATM and taking a taxi home. Seeing her condition, the driver had offered to take her directly to a Garda station.
Her boyfriend, who had been out looking for her, called gardaí, and she was brought to St Vincent’s Hospital.
Her arms and legs were bruised and since Ekhtor’s bite to her shoulder had broken her skin, she had to get a tetanus shot.
Det Gda Burke told the court Ekhtur was linked to the incident after being identified on CCTV following a similar attack in October 2019.
He said the investigating Garda in that case, Garda Eoin McDermott, contacted him after looking for matching cases on Pulse, the Garda computer system.
At a previous hearing in May this year, Gda McDermott told the court that on the date in October 2019, a woman was making her way to a bus stop on her own at approximately 1AM having spent the night with her friends.
He said the accused man, who the woman did not know, came up behind her and grabbed her. His hand went under the woman’s skirt and grabbed her over her tights.
A taxi driver passing at the time saw the accused flee down a laneway and drove towards the other end of the street with the intention of blocking him, but was unable to do so. The taxi driver then returned and waited with the victim until gardaí arrived.
While investigating the offence, gardaí were gathering CCTV from a nearby pub when one of the employees said they recognised Ehktur, as he worked at the pub. Ehktur was arrested and later charged with the offence.
Det Gda Burke confirmed to Keith Spencer BL, defending, that a DNA swab taken from the shoulder bite suffered by the first victim had been analysed, and that Ekhtur had “contributed to that DNA”.
"He's now aged 25 and he had never strayed outside his locale in Mongolia, " he said. "He led a very rural, very secluded life, coupled with periods of time when he was working in construction," he said in his plea for leniency.
He said Ekhtur had come to Ireland in late 2018 or early 2019 "to provide a better life" for his family after having his first son. "At 8 months of age his mother passed away. He never knew his mother," he said.
“Having come to these shores he was intoxicated by the culture,” saying Ekhtor had been drinking on both of the nights he carried out the attacks.
Victim impact
Counsel presented a psychological report which indicated Ekhtor had “an average risk of reoffending”.
“I do ask the court to acknowledge he is someone who doesn’t speak any English,” he said. “Prison would be completely alien to him.”
Judge Martin Nolan said a sentence of four years in prison was appropriate for the sexual assault on his first victim, with the charge of assault causing harm taken into consideration.
He said two years would be the sanction for his sexual assault on the second woman.
Judge Nolan said "prison would be difficult" for Ekhtur because of his language difficulties, saying he could expect "little to no visitors."
“Obviously it seems he is here with improper status. It seems he could be or should be deported back to Mongolia,” he said, but added: “This man deserves a custodial term.”
He ordered that both sentences run concurrent to each other for an effective operative sentence of four years imprisonment.
In her victim impact statement, which she read before the court, the woman attacked in July 2019 said she had been “replaying the attack over and over again” in her head.
“I feel like I’m forced to wear flat shoes and dress conservatively to avoid attracting attention.”
She said she had always been “outgoing and bubbly” before the attack, and that it had completely changed her. “I’ve lost friendships as a result of this.”
“I am and always had been highly driven, professionally and academically,” she said, but for the first time in her life, two months after the attack, she failed a set of exams.
She said she believes the ongoing impact of the attack has “severely injured my professional development”, and is worried about adjusting to working in an office again after the pandemic.
“Even when I’m with friends I’ll cross the street if someone even vaguely resembles my attacker,” she said
“I used to love running before my attacker took it away from me.” Now, she said, she would not walk in the dark without her boyfriend.
She said he, along with her friends had been “traumatised” by her ordeal, and it had put a lot of pressure on their relationship. “Sexual intimacy is a huge difficulty,” she added.
“I do not believe that Irish society is a place where a woman can be attacked waking on the street for no reason whatsoever and it should not be tolerated.”
Mr Spencer, told her he wanted to “commend your bravery on coming here.”
"Mr Ekhtur has asked me to convey an apology to you, for what it's worth," he added.
Reading from her victim impact statement, the woman attacked in October 2019 said that since the offence her mind “was not a safe place to be” and it was filled with fear and “catastrophic thoughts”.
She said she was “blindsided” by a “predatorial creep”. She said she was driven mad and was unable to continue working, but “thankfully” she asked for help and got it.
She said that “shame does not serve me, but it is here anyway”. She said there were “layers upon layers” of it coating her with fear.
The woman said she does not know how to feel safe and her biggest loss has been her peace of mind. She said the accused chose to violate her and she will probably never know why.
She said she chooses to believe that there are more men like the taxi driver. She said she wished to thank the taxi driver, to whom she has not been able to speak because of the case.