Polish man in court for sex assault on his neighbour

Grzegorz Jan Dyrda (43), from Deramore Drive, Strathfoyle, denied the charge, alleged to have taken place on December 2 last year. A pre-sentence report is now being compiled.

The injured party told the court that Dyrda knocked at her door shortly after 9pm and she looked out before opening it.

Dyrda asked to enter the house but when he was refused he pushed her front door and she could smell alcohol on his breath.

The woman said Dyrda “dropped his hand and forcibly groped my private area”. She was in shock, and roared at him before pushing him off her doorstep. She also claimed Dyrda had made sexual comments and gestures towards her in the two years prior to the incident.

During cross-examination, the woman said she did not feel under threat when she saw Dyrda at her door. However, while the comments he made previously were uncalled for, but she did not feel alarmed by them.

She said the groping incident had left her bruised, but she did not seek medical attention or tell the police.

Another neighbour, who claimed to have seen pushing and shoving at the woman’s front door, said this led him to believe there was some sort of struggle as the door was pushed in and out six or seven times.

The neighbour told the court he saw Dyrda walking away from the woman’s property a short time later.

Giving evidence on his own behalf via an interpreter, Dyrda told the court he had gone to a friend’s house after work and had consumed four or five beers.

He left and when he saw the light on in the complainant’s house he decided to tell her he was going to Poland for Christmas for the first time in 11 years.

He said the woman opened her door but there was not much conversation between them because he did not speak English well.

He said the woman told him to go home because she smelled alcohol on his breath, which he did and then had an argument with his wife and daughter.

He denied he sexually assaulted the woman or making sexual comments to her.

In cross examination, he denied touching the woman or trying his luck with her after consuming too much alcohol.

He told the court: “If I wanted another woman I would go to Poland. I don’t need another woman”.

District Judge Nigel Broderick said he was satisfied the complainant had given a credible and truthful account to the court and convicted Dyrda, granting him continuing bail to appear in court again on May 15.