74-year-old man convicted of indecent assault in Kerry

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

A 74-year-old man was found guilty of indecent assault at the Central Criminal Court after a four-day jury trial before Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan. He had pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of indecent assault. The charges concerned various dates between 1 January 1971 and 31 December 1974. The proceedings were reported on 28 April 2015.

The jury disagreed on the final three counts. Sentencing was scheduled for 8 May.

The man cannot be named to protect the identity of the woman, his sister-in-law. Paul Burns, prosecuting, told the court the abuse began when she was 10 and mainly occurred at the man’s house in Kerry, where she often stayed overnight while visiting her older sister.

The report said the woman told her family about the abuse in 1986 and reported it to gardaí in 2007. When questioned in custody in January 2008, the man told gardaí the allegations were “all lies” and he “never touched a child in his life”.

Reading her victim impact statement, the woman said reporting the abuse had a “devastating impact” on her family and left her feeling isolated and blamed.

Dominic McGinn, defending, sought leniency because of the man’s age. He said the man was a father of five with no previous convictions and that losing his standing in the community would be a serious punishment.