Man jailed for historic sex abuse of child

This article contains references to sexual abuse involving a child. Reader discretion is advised.

By Sonya McLean and Eimear Dodd

A man who engaged in “demeaning and humiliating behaviour” when he sexually abused a teenage girl over 30 years ago has been jailed. 

The now 68-year-old man sexually abused the victim as a child while she was minding his young son. The abuse involved the man touching the girl’s breasts, vagina and performing oral sex on her.

He pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to six charges of sexual assault of the girl while she was aged between 12 and 14 years old in his home on dates between September 1992 and September 1994. He can’t be identified for legal reasons.

The man regularly cornered the girl in his home as she was leaving a room or in a hallway before molesting her.

On one occasion, he sexually abused her in his son’s bedroom, while on another occasion, he sexually abused her in a car that his wife was driving.

The girl was sitting on the man’s lap as there was not enough room in the car because his son, mother-in-law and another teenage girl were in the car with them at the time.

Imposing sentence on Thursday Ms Justice Karen O’Connor said there would be a consecutive element to sentencing due to the “extraordinary” circumstances of this case. She noted that the man engaged in controlling behaviour, that the offending started at a “high level of gravity” from which it escalated and “humiliation was visited on this child”.

The judge noted this was historic offending, which occurred over 30 years ago and that the court “must abide by the parameters in legislation at that time”, which had a maximum penalty of five years.

Ms Justice O’Connor noted the offence of sexual assault of a child now carries a maximum penalty of 14 years.

She said the court was bound by the law in place at the time of the offending but added that if the most serious of the offences committed in this case had occurred today, she would set a headline sentence of 14 years.

Ms Justice O’Connor imposed a global sentence of six years and nine months, with the final nine months suspended for one year on strict conditions, including that the man has no unsupervised access to children.

She backdated the sentence to October 7 last when the man went into custody.

The judge said the aggravating features include the “massive breach of trust”, the age disparity, the duration of the abuse and the significant impact on the victim.

She noted the man was in a position of authority and “should have been protecting the child, rather than abusing” her.

Ms Justice O’Connor said another aggravating feature was that the man showed the victim pornography, which was “abhorrent” and abusive towards the child.

She said the abuse was aggressive and rough in nature, and the man engaged in “humiliating and demeaning behaviour” towards the victim

Ms Justice O’Connor said the court had taken into consideration the man’s guilty pleas, his health issues and work history as mitigating factors.

A local detective previously told Gerardine Small SC, prosecuting, that the woman reported the abuse to the garda in July 2022. When the man was interviewed a number of months later, he told gardaí he believed the girl was older and that she was consenting to the activity.

The woman said in her victim impact statement that the man took away her childhood and stole her innocence. She said he also took away her choice as to when and where she would have her first sexual experience.

“You abused me for over two years, abused me while minding your son. You groomed me and breached my trust – you physically restrained me,” the woman continued.

“You made me ashamed of who I was – ate away at my confidence. You didn’t seem to care who was around,” the woman said before she referred to the fact that the man had made her watch pornography.

She said the abuse has affected all aspects of her life, and she has had “constant issues” with her health. She said she is plagued with anxiety and panic attacks and has missed out on simple things in life, like nights out, family dinners and going to the cinema.

The woman said she was afraid to tell anyone because she was worried that she had done something to make the man abuse her.

“You made me question my trust in others. You made me feel dirty and ashamed of who I was,” she said.

The woman said that the abuse has affected her life as a mother to her children because she is afraid to leave them alone.

“I reported the abuse for myself to hopefully be one day at peace. I reported it for my children,” she continued, adding that she wanted them to grow up confident and not to be afraid to stand up for themselves.

The woman said she knew that with the help of the garda and the charity One in Four, she would get through things. She said she was in court “not as a victim but as a survivor”.

Ms Justice O’Connor thanked the woman for her courage in delivering her victim impact statement in person, telling her, “You are helping other little children who don’t have the voice at this stage to make a complaint”.

She told the woman, “I know this is very painful for you and very triggering. You have to know there are other children that haven’t the voice at this stage to make a complaint, but at least they will know they are not alone.”

“Their voices are taken away from them – eventually, they will hopefully find the voice to come forward,” the judge continued.

Eoghan Cole SC, defending, said his client wished to offer an apology to the woman and to indicate he is “deeply ashamed and remorseful”.

He suggested that the man’s account to gardaí was “a version of events he had derived from his retreat into denial”.