John Prior jailed for assaults on niece

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

John Prior, 68, received an 18-month prison sentence for indecent assaults on his 11-year-old niece. The sentencing hearing took place on 27 July 2016. The proceedings were reported on 27 July 2016.

He had denied all five indecent-assault charges. They concerned incidents at Hartley House on Merrion Road between 1 July and 31 August 1985. His niece had travelled from the United States for a summer visit to family in Leitrim and Dublin.

Following a trial earlier in July 2016, the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury returned guilty verdicts on two counts. It could not agree on the remaining three. During cross-examination, the victim was questioned on Prior’s position that the incidents had never occurred.

The victim did not attend sentencing. Prosecuting counsel Seamus Clarke BL read her impact report, which described post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the abuse and hospital treatment following a panic attack a year later. Detective Garda Stephen Homan said Prior had no previous convictions.

Defence counsel John O’Kelly SC described Prior as a widower whose business success had enabled him to distribute his pension among charities. Judge Nolan acknowledged his charitable giving but said he had betrayed the trust placed in him and isolated his niece. The judge described the lasting harm to her and the conflict within the family. While stressing the seriousness of all sexual assaults, he placed these offences below the most serious category.