Former swimming coach jailed for 15 years and six months for abusing four girls

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

A former swimming coach was sentenced on 12 October 2026 to 15 years and six months in prison for sexually abusing four girls in the 1970s and 1980s. Judge Mícheál O’Higgins imposed the sentence at the Central Criminal Court.

He had been charged with 79 offences and went on trial on 23 June 2026. He pleaded guilty at the start of the trial to five counts of indecent assault against one complainant. He pleaded not guilty to 73 other counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape.

After the prosecution evidence, the judge directed that 33 charges be removed from the case. On 6 July, the jury found him guilty of 39 counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape. It acquitted him of one count of indecent assault against a complainant between 1976 and 1977. After the verdict, he indicated that he would not appeal his conviction.

The judge imposed an aggregate sentence of 16 years and eight months, with 14 months suspended. He imposed 12 years for attempted rape, with two years suspended, and two years for each indecent assault, with four months suspended on each. Four of the assault sentences were to run consecutively to the attempted rape sentence; the others were to run concurrently. The sentence was backdated to when he first entered custody in July 2025.

The judge cited the victims’ young ages and the predatory context in which the coach abused his authority. He treated the man’s age, failing health, guilty plea and lack of opposition to extradition from the United States as mitigating factors.