A man who harassed a female colleague with “relentless” sexual innuendo in front of co-workers, driving her from her job, has been ordered to pay her €5,000 compensation.He pleaded guilty to harassing the woman over several months in 2021.Judge Keenan Johnson imposed a 2½-year sentence at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court, suspended on the condition the accused does not reoffend in the next seven years.The court heard the woman had upskilled to a new role in the company, after which the accused began making “comments of a sexual nature about her” at their workplace.Often it took place in the company canteen, where he told her to “get down on your knees and start sucking”. She was shocked and embarrassed, and put on earphones to avoid hearing him.Five minutes later another colleague came in, and the accused told that man the victim was “just sucking me off” and he made a gesture as if he was zipping up his trousers. Various other examples were cited in evidence.Previously, the victim had told the court the harassment was relentless, humiliating and degrading. It affected her professionally, psychologically and emotionally, she said. The man had claimed his comments had been intended as “banter or slagging”, but the judge described them as “vulgar, cheap, malicious” and told him his attitude was “a relic of the past with no place in polite society”.The woman had asked him to stop before making a complaint to their employer, the court heard. Her brother also spoke to the accused about his behaviour but the man claimed it was “craic”. [ Dubliner Daniel Tatlow-Devally says German arms plant break-in motivated by ‘urgent humanitarian concerns’Opens in new window ]The woman resigned and got a new job, which she enjoys, the court was told.After being arrested, the man described the harassment allegation as “bulls**t”. While speaking to the investigating garda, he called the woman a poisonous bitch and an attention seeker who was using him as a scapegoat because she was leaving work.Later, he posted a video on his social media account saying he wanted to apologise to her. It was played in court, and his defence counsel, Shane Geraghty, conceded the apology seemed “hollow”, while the judge branded it “cavalier and smug”.The judge added various terms to the sentence, ordering him to comply with 18 months’ supervised probation, pay restitution in instalments through gardaí, and have no contact with his former colleague for at least 20 years.Johnson said the accused gave no thought to his victim, adding, “He seemed interested only in his own misguided belief that others thought he was funny.”He had also said the case derived from a male culture where speaking disrespectfully of women “is excused by the manosphere and the likes of the Tates”.The man had eight prior convictions – one for assault causing harm, the rest for traffic offences. He is in his 50s, and married with children. To protect the complainant’s anonymity, he cannot be named.