Former member of defence forces jailed for 10 years for sexual abuse

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7 days ago

A judge has said a former member of the Irish Defence Forces is 'extremely fortunate' that his guilty pleas to sexual assault were accepted by the Director of Public Prosecutions as the offences could have been charged as rape.
The 63-year-old pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual assault on dates between September 2007 and June 2010 at an address in Cavan. He was jailed for 10 years on Friday.
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The Dublin man cannot be named to protect the anonymity of the victim, who was aged between 11 and 14 at the time.
The Central Criminal Court heard that the pleas were accepted by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on a full facts basis.
The man has 17 previous convictions including for criminal damage, possession of knives and the sexual assault of two minors, which occurred before this offending.
Imposing sentence on Friday, Mr Justice David Keane said the disparity in ages and the impact on the victim were among the aggravating factors.
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The judge said the man was 'extremely fortunate' that the DPP accepted his guilty pleas to sexual assault on a full facts basis as 'the acts could have been charged as offences of anal or oral rape' which have a maximum sentence of life in prison. Sexual assault of a child under 17 has a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment.
Evidence was heard that the man was friendly with the boy's older brother, who was experiencing mental health difficulties at the time.
The boy's brother moved to a house in Cavan owned by the man. The defendant would take the boy to visit his brother and during these journeys, the man introduced the topic of sexual activity between men into conversation.
The court heard evidence of the abuse, including an incident during which the boy vomited as the man sexually assaulted him. The man made him clean it up afterwards.
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In a later incident, the man held the boy's neck, told him he was going to introduce him to rough sex, then sexually assaulted him.
The judge noted the contents of the injured party's 'simple but powerful' victim impact statement.
He noted the complainant wrongly blamed himself for years and had misplaced feelings of shame. The abuse also affected the complainant's relationship with his brother, who he did not want to visit often. The boy was told his failure to visit his brother was affecting his brother's mental health.
Referring to the victim impact statement, the judge said the boy was robbed of his relationship with his brother who has since died and felt he could not visit his grave as it would bring back memories of the abuse.
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Mr Justice Keane noted that the injured party is now able to honour his brother's life by sharing memories of him.
The judge noted a defence submission that the offending could be considered opportunistic and intermittent over the period in question.
Brother's house
He said while the abuse was limited to occasions when the boy visited his brother's house, 'significant planning and cunning' was involved to isolate the child.
Mr Justice Keane noted the contents of the probation report and that the man told a probation officer that he was not guilty of this category of offending, denied contact or described it as minimal and said he believed the boy was an adult.
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The judge said the report states the man engaged in victim blaming and displayed no empathy. He noted that the man told the probation officer that he does not wish to interact with Probation Services and did not give consent for them to speak to his family, who are unaware of the nature of his offending.
Mr Justice Keane referred to an undated letter from the man addressed to the victim and 'their family', in which the man took responsibility and outlined his shame and guilt. But, the judge noted this letter referred to a singular sexual assault.
He also referred to a letter written by the man in 2014 to the victim while he was in the Midlands Prison, in which he said he was taking courses in anger management and preventing sexual offending.
The judge noted there is no independent confirmation that the man undertook or completed these courses.
Two unsigned letters from the man's brother and father were also provided to the court, which said the man has mental health and other health issues.
The judge said these letters were not on affidavit as required by law and the court could not take them into consideration.
Mr Justice Keane said there was 'no independent medical evidence' or details of the man's service in the Irish Defence Forces before the court.
Having imposed the 10 year global sentence for the man's offending, Mr Justice Keane said there was no basis on which to suspend any part of the sentence and he imposed a two-year post release supervision order.
The court heard that in the first incident, the boy had fallen asleep in a bedroom at his brother's house and woke to the man touching him.
The man told the boy he loved him and was 'going to give him a good time'. He then performed oral sex on the boy, who called out for his brother.
The defendant told him his brother was asleep and continued to abuse the boy, while he called for his brother for around 20 minutes. The man stopped, telling the boy he was 'too young to come', then left the room.
In a later incident, the man asked the boy to come to the attic to hang up sports equipment after his brother had fallen asleep in the sitting room. The boy refused and the man took him by the arm into another room, where he inserted his penis into the boy's anus.
The boy found this very sore and vomited onto the wall and floor. The man gave out to him for getting sick, and threatened to tell his parents he'd been drinking alcohol. He also made the boy clean up the vomit.
The boy went to bed, but did not sleep as he was crying and in pain. The man came into the room about an hour later, and appeared nice, offering the boy water. He then grabbed the boy's hair and put his penis in the boy's mouth. Afterwards, he left the room.
Around Easter 2008, the man took the boy to visit his brother. He told the boy he had got a van so they could have sex in it.
That night, the boy woke up and realised the man had moved him while he was in bed. The man told him he'd missed him and was going to get on top of him.
The defendant then inserted his penis into the boy's anus, telling him it was not going to be sore as he'd done it before. Afterwards, the man wiped his penis, then told the boy to suck it before inserting his penis into the boy's anus later again that night.
On another occasion, the boy was in bed when the man came into the room and held him by his throat while removing his clothes.
He told the boy, who was afraid and in pain, that he was going to introduce him to rough sex. The man then bit and sucked on the boy's penis, before inserting his penis to the boy's anus.
The boy told him no, and to stop, but the man refused, telling him he was enjoying it.
In late 2009 or early 2010, the boy's brother moved to another house in Cavan. The man arrived at this house while the boy was visiting. He went to the boy's room, put his elbow on the boy's chest, then sexually assaulted him.
After this final incident, the boy made an unsuccessful suicide attempt, which included drinking bleach.
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The court heard that the boy was afraid of his father, who passed away in the mid 2010s. The boy's brother died in 2011. He told his mother in 2016 and his partner in 2018, making a formal complaint in 2021.
When interviewed, the man made no admissions, denied that he knew the boy and said everyone's time was being wasted.
The judge backdated the sentence to last October, when the man went into custody.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help
.