Dean Hurley jailed for sexually assaulting partner’s daughter

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

Dean Hurley was sentenced at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 13 December 2021 to three and a half years in prison, with the final six months suspended, for sexually assaulting his partner’s daughter. The proceedings were reported on 13 December 2021.

Hurley had pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the girl, then aged 12, at the home he shared with her mother in County Wicklow on a date between 1 and 30 October 2013. A jury convicted him after a three-day trial in October 2021. He maintained his innocence.

The woman told the jury that she asked Hurley for a foot massage while they were alone in the sitting room. She said he moved his hand up her leg and rubbed her vagina. She left the room, and Hurley followed her and asked if he had touched her private parts.

The following year, she disclosed the abuse to two school friends and then to the school chaplain. In her victim impact statement, she said Hurley denied the allegations after she told her family. She described the impact on her mental health and said she had applied for a job with the Metropolitan Police in the hope of helping other children who had suffered sexual abuse.

Defence counsel Kathleen Leader SC presented a Probation Service report which assessed Hurley as being at low risk of reoffending. Judge Pauline Codd said he had been in a position of trust and noted the significant impact on the complainant. The judge took account of his lack of previous convictions but said he had not expressed remorse because he did not accept the jury’s verdict.

The suspended portion of the sentence was subject to strict conditions, including engagement with a sexual offender treatment programme and the Probation Service. Hurley had been registered as a sex offender. The woman gave permission for him to be identified but asked not to be named.

This report covers an earlier stage of the case. Later developments are not reported here.