A Clogher pensioner has been jailed for an indecent assault on a 17-year-old female student, which occurred shortly before 11.00am in Dunnes Stores, Enniskillen, in December 2005.

Hugh McCaughey, from Main Street, is accused of assaulting the girl by poking her in the thigh with an asthma inhaler, and at the same time asking her where the sausage counter was?

McCaughey (65) denied the charge. However, he was found guilty at an earlier court hearing, after which sentencing was adjourned.

Detailing the offence, a prosecution solicitor explained McCaughey had approached the injured party and her friend as they were coming down the stairs from the entrance in Dunnes Stores.

The solicitor said McCaughey touched the injured party on her thigh and said, 'This is a gun, you would like that'.

The teenage girl later reported the incident to security staff at the store and also to staff at Fermanagh College. CCTV footage was viewed and McCaughey was arrested. During interview, the defendant accepted that he was the man in the video footage but denied assaulting the girl.

Defence barrister, Heather Phillips, said her client denied that any assault occurred. She reiterated some of the evidence that was presented in the original contested court case, and submitted McCaughey had never actually 'touched' the injured party.

'There was never any skin on skin contact' she told the court.

Ms Phillips submitted that the incident amounted to McCaughey pushing an asthma inhaler into the injured party's leg. There was no sexual connotations from his actions, and she claimed that neither the injured party nor her friend took any sexual meaning from this. She said that the girls had provided McCaughey with the directions he had asked for and had continued shopping.

The barrister said the girls had described McCaughey as 'a bizarre man', and added 'they didn't think of it in any sexual way'.

She explained sentencing in the matter had been delayed to allow the probation services to compile a report.

The Court heard that a probation officer had visited McCaughey's home and described his living conditions as 'squalor', explaining that he had no cooking facilities and this was why he visited places with hot food counters to get breakfast. She said the defendant lived a very 'isolated' life with no family support.

Urging the magistrate, Liam McNally, to consider a suspended sentence, the barrister told the court that McCaughey had been in St Luke's Hospital since November last year, and that, from this time he had abstained from alcohol.

Referring to the pre-sentence report from the Probation Board, Mr McNally commented, "Part of the difficulty is that he still denies the offence."

Ms Philips explained this was because the defendant claimed he didn't intend to portray any sexual connotations by his actions.

Mr McNally outlined the legislation, whereby he was governed by Article 19, and said he would not send a person to prison, 'unless I'm of the view that it is necessary for the protection of the public'.

The magistrate said McCaughey had been charged with a similar type of offence in 2004 and added, "This gives me grave cause for concern about this man being out."

Sentencing McCaughey to four months in jail, Mr McNally told him, "This is a serious offence. You have deliberately gone up to a young girl in a shop and pressed an inhaler against her thigh. In that context, you asked her where the sausages were on the hot food counter. I have no doubt you indecently assaulted this young girl."

Again referring to Article 19, Mr McNally said the offence warranted a prison sentence in order to protect the public, "The difficulty I have in your case is, in 2004, you committed a similar offence and assaulted a young girl."

Mr McNally said the offence was compounded by the fact McCaughey still failed to accept responsibility for the crime or show any empathy towards his victims. Because of this, the Magistrate added that there was further cause for concern, and as a result, "There is no community disposal open to me."

McCaughey was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for seven years.

The sentence was appealed and bail was set at £500.