'Truly harrowing spectacle': Circuit Court in the Midlands hears convicted sex offender gifted victim a box of pens

A convicted sex offender, who, in “a truly harrowing spectacle”, gifted his victim a box of bic red pens following an act of gross indecency, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison with the final six months suspended.

The man (44), who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, appeared before Judge Kenneth Connolly at Longford Circuit Court, where it was heard the sentence would be served consecutively to a sentence previously imposed for other sexual offences.

The man, who was in his 20s at the time of the commission of the offences, was charged with nine counts of gross indecency with a child aged between 11 and 13 years, under section 4 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993.

The accused was initially charged with sexual assault, but entered a guilty plea to three counts of gross indecency on an amended indictment. A nolle prosequi was entered on six other similar charges.

The offences took place over the course of one year and five months, from early 2005 to mid 2006, with one count of gross indecency taking place every two months at a GAA ground in the Midlands, the court heard.

All counts on the indictment related to the same child, who was being abused over the same period of time by another man. This man was the primary abuser and has been dealt with before the courts.

Detective Garda Damien McGovern told state prosecutor Shane Geraghty BL and the court that the accused started abusing the injured party midway through the period of sexual assault he was suffering at the hands of the other man.

“I don’t know what age I was. There was so much abuse I can’t be sure,” the victim told Gardaí in a statement.

He told Gardaí that his “primary abuser” - the other man - was in the meeting room of the GAA grounds with the injured party and playing footage on the television.

The injured party couldn’t recall whether this footage was pornography or video clips of the abuse he had been subjected to, but he told Gardaí the accused had walked into the room, was not shocked by the footage, and even stayed to watch.

The incidents of gross indecency with the accused involved the injured party remaining fully clothed while he masturbated the man to ejaculation, the court heard. On one occasion, the accused gifted him a box of bic red pens, and his school teachers later “gave out” to him for having them.

The injured party told Gardaí that the incidents were always the same - he remained fully clothed and the accused didn’t touch his private parts, but had the child masturbate him to ejaculation each time.

He did not record any of the abuse, like the child’s other abuser, and he did not threaten him not to disclose the abuse to anyone. The abuse only stopped when the child stopped attending the GAA grounds.

The child disclosed the abuse to his father in 2012 and statements were taken. A search warrant was executed at the home of the accused and Gardaí became aware that he had left the jurisdiction to live in the UK.

The accused later moved to New York, where he got married. He was extradited from the USA, arriving in Ireland in April 2019. At that time, he was also charged with more serious sexual offences on another child.

The man was due to stand trial at the Central Criminal Court for his abuse of that child, but entered a last minute guilty plea to sample counts on the indictment, including attempted rape, seven counts of anal rape, four counts of sexual assault, two counts of assault causing harm and one of harassment at various locations on dates between 2004 and 2010.

In 2021, a headline sentence of 13 years and six months in that case was mitigated to 10 years and six months with the final 18 months suspended.

The DPP subsequently brought the case to the Court of Appeal for undue leniency of the sentence set by the Central Criminal Court. The Court of Appeal set a headline sentence of 17 years, which was mitigated to 14 years and six months with the last 18 months suspended.

In mitigation, Mr Morgan Shelley BL, told the court that his client indicated an early guilty plea in this case, which allowed the victim the relief of knowing he wouldn’t have to give evidence at trial.

The man’s health has deteriorated significantly, Mr Shelley explained, with “extremely bad gastro-intestinal symptoms” making his life in prison “exceptionally difficult”. There are also concerns that the accused may have prostate or bowel cancer.

A governor’s report from the prison indicated that the accused has four p19s to his name, with one referring to an attempted escape while concealing a weapon.

The accused also suffers from clinical depression and PTSD as a result of being “a victim of very serious sex abuse and rape at the hands of a family member as a child”.

“Unfortunately, it is often the case with victims of sexual abuse that this kind of behaviour is normalised and the cycle continues,” said Mr Shelley.

Judge Kenneth Connolly, having heard the evidence, said that the offences were a case of “truly horrible timing” as the accused was simultaneously abusing another boy.

“He (the accused) was also aware of the other man abusing the injured party but he did nothing about that,” said Judge Connolly.

“The injured party remembers being gifted a box of bic red pens, which is a truly harrowing spectacle indeed.”

Aggravating factors included the serious nature of the offending, as well as the frequency and the period over which it took place. There was also a breach of trust and the abuse occurred against the background of other abuse, with the accused seeing the child as “an easy target”.

“He left the jurisdiction and lived a completely separate life in the USA. In fact he even got married - he gave scant regard to what he left behind,” said Judge Connolly.

He noted there was no victim impact statement furnished to the court with regard to the accused, as the victim could not distinguish between the effects of the abuse by the accused and the abuse inflicted by his “primary abuser”.

“But I don’t need a victim impact statement to understand the lifelong injury inflicted on somebody who has suffered sexual abuse,” he said.

The penalty for gross indecency, he noted, is a maximum of two years, and he proceeded to fix a headline sentence of two years on one count on the indictment.

He noted mitigating factors, such as the plea of guilty, the deteriorating health of the accused, an apology and expression of remorse for his offending, and the fact the accused himself suffers PTSD as a result of sexual abuse inflicted on him.

“But that is a double-edged sword. He should know better than anybody the injury and hurt that sexual violence has on a victim,” said Judge Connolly, remarking that the accused should have “more empathy”.

With mitigation, he proceeded to impose a sentence of 18 months on one count of gross indecency. The other two counts to which the accused pleaded guilty were marked taken into consideration.

That sentence is to be served consecutively to the jail time the accused is currently serving. Judge Connolly also suspended the final six months of the sentence for 18 months, with a condition that the accused engage with probation services to identify appropriate counselling services that might be available to deal with his PTSD.