Courts / Dublin / Report

Sex offender won't face trial on new charges of raping young child because of dementia

Summary

A 77‑year‑old Dublin man, who has previously served a four‑year sentence for sexually assaulting a niece, was found unfit to plead in a fitness‑to‑plead hearing before the Central Criminal Court. He faced nine counts of sexually assaulting and anally raping a young girl between 1989 and 1991, allegations made by a relative who said the man had earned her trust before raping her two or three times a week. Psychiatrists for both prosecution and defence agreed that the accused suffered a severe decline in cognitive function due to vascular impairment syndrome, a type of dementia. He was unable to follow conversation, often got lost when walking alone, and scored 22 out of 30 on a cognitive test, below the normal threshold of 27. Dr. Ronan Mullaney and Dr. Paul O'Connell also noted Parkinson's disease. The unnamed 77-year-old was convicted.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Sex offender won't face trial on new charges of raping young child because of dementia. Procedural stage: sentence. Findings: Convicted

When:

• 1989 and 1991 Incident
• 2015-11-23 Publication

Why: She told the victim, who was in court, that the State was not dropping the case but that it could not proceed because of the man's condition. CNI source report

Case subjects

Places mentioned

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Stage Sentence

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Read the original CNI report