A Leitrim man has been given a suspended sentence by Mr Justice Paul Carney for sexually assaulting a girl, now aged 19, who told a psychologist she would commit suicide if he were jailed.
The young woman told Mr Justice Carney that she didn't wish to see the man jailed.
"What has happened has happened and I just want to get on with my life and I have no hard feelings towards him", she said.
The 41-year-old father of two pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to four sample charges of sexually assaulting her on dates from 1996 to 1999.
He originally faced a total of 59 charges that included 47 counts of rape and the balance of sexual assaults in the same period.
The woman told Mr Justice Carney she had not made the complaint that led to the charges and she wanted to know who had. "It shouldn't have been done without my consent", she said.
Mr Justice Carney noted she had told clinical psychologist Mr Bill Fox that she would commit suicide if the defendant was jailed and her view was that she just wished to resume her life as if it all had never happened.
Mr Justice Carney said Mr Fox emphasised in the victim impact report that her threat should be taken seriously. Normally, he said, he didn't allow reference to a threat of suicide to be made in the court but in this case it was a threat by a victim.
"The defendant was prepared to offer guilty pleas to the sexual assault charges as she was seemingly not prepared to give evidence in a trial", he said.
Mr Justice Carney imposed concurrent three-year sentences on each of the four charges and suspended them on condition the defendant enter into his own bond of €1,000 to keep the peace for five years.