Dublin man’s suspended sentence partly reactivated; separate abuse case brings jail term

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

A Dublin man’s two-year suspended sentence for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy was partly reactivated after he failed to co-operate with the Probation Service. The proceedings were reported on 24 March 2017.

The report said the suspended sentence was imposed in June 2015 for an assault in May 2013. The man had pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the boy.

In a separate prosecution involving another boy, the man was jailed for four-and-a-half years. He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to seven sample charges of sexually abusing that boy. The offences occurred between December 1996 and October 1999, when the victim was aged between 11 and 14.

Judge Martin Nolan said the man had abused the victim at least 15 times and that his position of trust aggravated the offences. The judge noted that the maximum sentence for the offence was five years and credited the guilty plea for saving the victim the trauma of giving evidence at trial.

Garda Tom O’Riordan told Maddie Grant BL, prosecuting, that the victim’s mother contacted him in November 2014. The report said the victim made a formal complaint two months later. The victim described lasting harm to his employment, relationships and parenting.

Hugh Harnett SC, defending, asked the court to consider the man’s guilty plea and co-operation with the garda investigation. He submitted a GP’s letter stating that the man was suffering from very significant depression.