John Prendiville jailed for sexual assault in Kerry

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

John Prendiville was sentenced to 12 years in prison, with the last two years suspended on conditions requiring him to avoid the victim and undergo 18 months of supervision after release. He pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy in a Kerry town. The assault took place on 12 May 2012, while the boy was in residential care. The proceedings were reported on 26 January 2015.

Prendiville had 33 earlier convictions, the court heard. These included five sexual assault convictions and four for failing to notify gardaí under the Sex Offender’s Act. He had just completed a separate six-year sentence for sexual assault at Castlerea Prison before committing this offence. A detective agreed with the defence that the Salvation Army Hostel in Dublin was his last registered address. The detective also accepted that his register offences resulted from being unable to give gardaí a permanent address.

The judge regarded the offence as inherently serious but said the evidence indicated that the guilty plea had helped the victim. That benefit was considered when suspending the final two years. The judge treated the nature of Prendiville’s previous convictions and his repeated breaches of the Act as aggravating factors.