Man jailed for indecent assault of teen 35 years ago

By Eimear Dodd

A man who indecently assaulted a teenage girl over 35 years ago has been jailed for two years.

Patrick O’Brien (74) of Oakwood Grove, Clondalkin, Dublin 2 was convicted following a trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of indecently assaulting the girl at his home on a date between April and September 1990.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told today that the injured party had no issue with O’Brien being named, but wished to retain her right to anonymity.

The court previously heard the woman made a complaint to gardai after reading a media report about O’Brien’s previous conviction for possession of child sexual abuse material, known in law as child pornography, for which he received a suspended 20-month prison sentence in 2022.

An investigating garda outlined how O’Brien had indecently assaulted the girl on one occasion while she was staying at his house when she was either 15 or 16. He was aged in his 30s.

During the incident, he said: “Fuck me, fuck me”.

In 2023, O’Brien contacted a relative of the woman, telling him he was drunk at the time of the incident, walking in his sleep and did not realise what he had done until the morning.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by the investigating garda, the woman said the ordeal changed the trajectory of her life.

She said “to survive, I became an expert at boxing the trauma away” but “it was a jack in the box”.

She said the trauma drove her to push people away and to leave home at 17, moving abroad to ensure she didn’t bump into him.

She said hearing about him committing another offence “turned my stomach to its core” and that going to gardai was the “most traumatic experience of my life, second only to the assault”.

She said the criminal process was terrifying and cross-examination was “incredibly painful”.

She said she refuses to be silent any longer and asked the court to recognise not only the act but the “35-year shadow it has cast over my life”.

Imposing sentence today, Judge Sinead Ni Chulachain said the court accepted this was an opportunistic offence, but noted the age difference between O’Brien and the girl.

She noted the impact on the woman and expressed the court’s hope that the jury’s verdict would give her the comfort of knowing she was believed and that O’Brien’s acceptance of the verdict was an acknowledgement of his wrongdoing.

The judge noted that O’Brien’s previous conviction occurred many years after the offending in this case which itself took place over 35 years ago, the difficulties of serving a custodial sentence for the first time and his age.

She imposed a three-year sentence, with the final 12 months suspended for one year in light of O’Brien’s age and to incentivise rehabilitation.

The judge directed O’Brien to undergo supervision by the Probation Service for one year post-release and to engage in any offence or victim-focused work deemed appropriate.

At an earlier hearing, the investigating garda agreed with defence senior counsel Alice Fawsitt that O’Brien complied with a suspended sentence he received for possession of child sexual abuse material and that he has no other pending matters.

Ms Fawsitt said her client accepts the jury’s verdict. She noted that his conviction for possession of child sexual abuse material “triggered the complaint in this matter”.

She submitted it is at the lower end of the scale for offences of this nature.

O’Brien has a long work history, family support and a number of medical issues, which may make his time in custody more difficult.