Sex offender jailed after sex assault on vulnerable young man

Niamh O’Donoghue

A 63-year-old sex offender who engaged in “predatory, intimidating behaviour” towards a vulnerable young person has been jailed for five years.

Ronaldo Otto, who goes by the first name Samantha, of Grosvenor Square, Rathmines, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexually assaulting a 20-year-old autistic man on February 1st, 2023.

Sergeant Lesley Roche told the court the injured party was diagnosed with autism and ADHD when he was a child.

She told Simon Matthews BL, prosecuting, that Otto, who is originally from the Philippines, is transitioning to female and goes by the first name Samantha.

The court heard the injured party was waiting to get the bus when he was followed upstairs by Otto, who sat beside him. Sgt Roche gave evidence the complainant uses a disability card for the bus that Otto would have seen. Otto asked for the complainant’s phone number and dialled it to make sure it rang.

The court was told Otto began groping the complainant on his leg and crotch area. Otto followed the victim off the bus, the court heard. Otto put the victim’s arm behind his back and brought him down a laneway and undid the drawstring on the victim’s trousers before performing oral sex on him.

Otto then put €20 in the victim’s pocket and said “I’ll text you again tomorrow and we’ll do it again” and later sent a message saying “Thank you”. Sgt Roche gave evidence the victim said he felt he could not leave because Otto threatened him.

The complainant told his parents what had happened and he went to the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit. He gave specialist garda interviewers a description and CCTV garnered from Dublin Bus allowed gardaí to identify Otto.

The victim’s trousers were sent for DNA analysis and a positive match for Otto was made. The court heard Otto was interviewed unnecessarily nothing of evidential value arose.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by Matthews, the injured party said he feels depressed ever since the incident.

“Since that day my life has changed” … “I was happy all the time before that happened,” he said.

Sgt Roche agreed with Pieter Le Vert, defending, that his client was previously subjected to a robbery and a serious assault, and at that time “identified as female”.

In mitigation, Le Vert said his client was a victim of two serious crimes. A document from Ruhama, an NGO providing support to sex workers, was handed into court.

Le Vert said Otto is biologically male but has augmented breasts and is taking hormones.

Counsel said his client now appears male. Otto’s forehead had ashes on it when appearing by video link from prison and had short grey haircut, black glasses and a black fleece top.

Le Vert said his client operated a hair salon in the Philippines and was invited to join a friend’s salon in Ireland in 2011. Counsel said difficulties with Otto’s vocal cords caused his client to have no voice. Having stopped working as a result of that and suffering ‘severe financial difficulties’, Otto began ‘working on the streets’, the court previously heard.

In October 2020, Otto was given a three-year fully suspended sentence after pleading guilty to throwing a cup of boiling water on a man in a casino in 2019.

However, six months of that term was reactivated last July because Otto breached the terms of that sentence after being convicted by a jury of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old in a laneway in October 2022.

In sentencing on Wednesday, Judge Orla Crowe jailed Otto for five years commencing on the lawful expiration of the sentences for sexual assault and assault causing harm.

Judge Crowe said the injured party was “without doubt a vulnerable person” because he had shown a disability pass to get onto the bus.

The judge noted there was no expression of remorse besides a guilty plea, for the “predatory, intimidating behaviour”.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.