Sex worker assaulted by Kerry farmer said ‘you never think it will happen to you’

The sordid case highlights how hundreds of vulnerable women are left to fend for themselves by ruthless pimps and sex trafficking gangs who control the business in Ireland.

John Doolan got a one-year jail sentence for two separate assaults after contacting the women for sex but then began looking for discount or sex acts that had not been offered.

One of the women, who was assaulted at her apartment in Tralee in March 2020, said in her victim impact statement that she no longer works alone following the attack.

“I know working as a sex worker is dangerous, but you never think it will happen to you,” she said.

The woman attacked in Tralee worked using the name ‘Hot Summer’ and her profile was advertised on the Escorts Ireland website set up by convicted pimp Peter McCormick.

Information still available online shows how despite the attack, ‘Hot Summer’ continued moving around the country in Thurles, Clonmel, Sligo and Dublin in the middle of the Covid lockdown.

Her profile on the website is similar to hundreds of others, including those trafficked to Ireland or lured here by bogus promises of legitimate jobs.

Earlier this month, 49-year-old Doolan from Cockhill, Kilcummin in Co Kerry, got a year in prison after being convicted of assault and sexual assault.

Gardai arrived at the home he shares with his 74-year-old mother after tracing the blue Opel Astra they share to the house.

During interviews with gardai from the National Garda Protective Services Bureau, Doolan denied claims by the women that he had touched them inappropriately or assaulted them.

One of the women known as ‘Victoria’ on her online profile, told the court Doolan grabbed her by the arms and pushed her on to a bed after she refused to give him oral sex without a condom or to have sex without a condom.

She also said he had touched her breasts, vagina and bottom without consent at her Killarney apartment May 2020.

“He asked me for a blowjob without a condom. I said no. He was angry. He asked for sex without a condom too. I said ‘nothing without a condom’.

“In my advertisement I say that I don’t do service without a condom. He knows that,” she told the court in her evidence.

She said they agreed on a price of €80 for a half-hour’s service, with a condom. She said this agreement was made on the phone.

Doolan told gardai when the allegations had been put to him: “That is not John Doolan, he doesn’t do things like that.”

Doolan also denied allegations made by the other woman in Tralee and said he had asked for his money back in this case.

“I went to have an intimate encounter with her,” he said, adding that he would have known the price before he arrived. The woman was known as ‘Hot Summer’ online, the court heard.

He said he had seen a ‘TS’, a man with long hair in the apartment, and he didn’t want to be in an apartment with a man and a lady.

Doolan said he believed a pimp was in the nearby apartment watching him, and he wanted to leave.

The victim of the Killarney attack said she had given up sex work after the assault due to “fear” and said she suffers panic attacks as a result of the assault.

Doolan’s defence counsel said his client, who had pleaded not guilty to the assaults, accepted the jury’s verdict and was remorseful for his actions.