Offaly man convicted of sexually abusing two young boys

A victim of child rape has said that the teenager who abused him used him for his own sexual gratification and exploration of his sexuality.

The defendant, a 41-year-old man from Co Offaly, was convicted after a trial at the Central Criminal Court this week of four counts of oral rape on various dates between May 1995 and December 1998.

The defendant, who was aged between 15 and 18 at the time, was also convicted of eights counts of sexual assault of the victim, who was then aged between 11 and 14.

The defendant was further convicted of four sexual assaults of the victim's older brother on dates in 1995 and 1996. The child in that case was aged from 12 and 13 at the time.

The court heard that the two victims were brothers who were placed in foster care with the defendant's family in 1995. The defendant told the Probation Service that at the time he felt resentful about sharing his home and was being bullied at school and finding school difficult.

He said he identified with the younger boy and believed they had a special bond. He said he then groomed this child and what started out as childish games of wrestling between them developed into sexual assaults.

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The victim went to gardai in 2014 and made statements describing sexual assaults that began as kissing and developed into “heavier and heavier” acts of abuse. This culminated in the older boy getting the child to perform oral sex on him repeatedly and regularly.

The victim told gardai in 2014 that in his mind it was consensual and that “he didn't know any better”.

In his victim impact report he said the defendant took advantage of him in a cruel way in order to explore his own sexuality.

“I was used as an experiment by that man to see what his sexuality was. I was just a sad and lonely gay boy desperate to be loved.

“He did not want to be gay so he wanted me to be a woman. He wanted to be straight but have me as a sex toy for his satisfaction,” he said.

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The victim said that he now finds it difficult to enjoy a healthy sexual life with his own husband, saying that “sex for me is emotionless”.

In his statement, the second victim said he turned to drink in his early 20s to hide his low self esteem and said he still suffers from night terrors. He said he has difficulty showing emotions to his wife now.

Defence counsel Bernard Madden SC told the court that a forensic psychological assessment placed his client as a low risk of sexual reoffending. He said his client now accepts the jury verdict and is sorry for and trying to take responsibility for his actions.

Ms Justice Deirdre Murphy noted that initially the man's family believed that he was wrongly convicted. Mr Madden said this the man's wife is now aware that her husband accepts the guilty verdicts.

Ms Justice Murphy adjourned the matter to March 28 for sentencing and remanded the man in custody. The convicted man cannot be named to protect the anonymity of the victims, in accordance with the 1981 Rape Act.