Meet the Kerry sergeant who investigates the county's most harrowing crimes
The KerrymanDetective Sergeant Michelle Roche investigates Kerry’s most harrowing crimes.
We meet in the sunlit conservatory of a Killarney hotel. She has a warmth and salt-of-the-earth manner that belies the grit needed to uncover the heaviest acts.
She is one of two detective sergeants on Kerry’s Divisional Protection Services Unit, which investigates serious sexual crimes affecting children and adults. She works alongside a detective inspector, eight to 10 gardaí, and specialists in child interviews. When domestic abuse involves a sexual component, which it often does, the unit is also involved.
Foremost, her job is to make sure survivors are heard.
“We will never judge,” says Det Sgt Roche. “Somebody would come into us and think, ‘how am I going to tell another human being this?’ I won’t say we have heard it all but we have heard a lot. We’re not here to judge, we are here to listen.”
Even as society and crime transform, the toughest challenges are the oldest: stigma, shame and the sticky myths surrounding justice. But as legislation broadens and people learn their rights, more survivors tell their story.
‘Sexually abused by priests and teachers’
The unit covers current and historical cases.
There was a “huge influx” of reports to the Kerry unit following the 2024 Report of the Scoping Inquiry into Historical Sexual Abuse in Day and Boarding Schools Run by Religious Orders.
The report recorded 2,395 allegations of sexual assault at 308 schools in Ireland, mainly by male survivors describing incidents between the early 1960s and the early 1990s.
Following publication, survivors turned to gardaí.
“In a lot of cases, the perpetrators were deceased,” says Det Sgt Roche. “But the victims had their voices heard, finally. We met a lot of those victims, we took statements. Even though we knew nobody was going to be prosecuted, it was there on record that they were sexually abused by priests and teachers. They were believed.”
A large proportion of Kerry’s sexual abuse reports are historical, with survivors waiting decades due to family shame, says the sergeant.
If this is the case, she says, “So be it, it’s totally understandable.”
“A victim could say, ‘What’s the point in coming forward? It happened eighty years ago’. Doesn’t matter. If you want your voice heard, we will listen and it will be recorded.”
Modern forces keep the caseload growing. These can be positive, like rising awareness around consent and the opening of dedicated units like theirs in every county. (Since the Kerry DPSU opened in 2018, a phone call to gardaí is all that is needed to get support. No name is required.)
Work has also increased due to technology.
“Online exploitation has just gone through the roof,” says the sergeant. “It keeps changing, constantly. As much as we try to keep up with it, we can’t.”
It falls to Det Sgt Roche to monitor child sexual abuse material, which must be categorised for the courts and reviewed for warrant applications.
“We are very mindful when we go to a house,” she says. “We are letting off a grenade inside. More often than not, the people in that house don’t know that somebody is accessing child pornography. They could be married and they have kids and we’re explaining it to the wife.
“While we’re going into the house searching for devices, we’re very mindful of offering welfare to the family before we leave.”
This includes supports for the accused.
The 2019 criminalisation of non-fatal strangulation and coercive control was a “massive change” for domestic abuse investigations, says the detective.
“If someone beats someone, you’re going to see black eyes, bruising. A lot of abuse just doesn’t have that because offenders know that’s evidence. Whereas the sexual abuse and emotional abuse, the economic abuse, it’s hard to prove. They’re silent, invisible types of abuse and they’re the most common ones we see.”
She adds, “While they are long and they are complex investigations, we have the time to investigate and we would encourage people to come forward and report.”
Victims are met wherever they are most comfortable, whether it’s for a cup of coffee, a stroll on the beach or a few minutes’ walk from their home. At these conversations, gardaí dress casually and a victim can request a male or female garda.
“We’re there to help the victim, whatever they want,” says Det Sgt Roche. “They might never want to see court, they might never want their husband or partner arrested. It could be just to sit down with them, believe them.”
The stigma has diminished, she notes. “Unfortunately, it’s every second house now. You don’t need to feel alone and you don’t need to feel isolated.”
Self-blame and shame remain the biggest obstacles to reporting, says the sergeant. “You go to a picture-perfect house, lovely home, lovely lawn. But nobody knows what’s going on behind closed doors.”
“Kerry is a small county. There is shame, stigma, self-blame, a fear of not being believed.”
Often, this comes from well-intentioned family.
“You could have siblings who say, ‘What did you go reporting that for? Everyone will know about it, everyone down at the local station will know about it’,” she says.
There is a misbelief that any gardaí can access files. In fact, files are kept in a locked office. Digitised access is heavily restricted.
Another myth is that family affairs must be handled privately.
“People say, ‘this is a private family matter, it doesn’t go outside the house, we don’t discuss what goes on in here’. And it could be family members telling the victim that, saying the gards have no business knowing this. Whereas, it doesn’t matter where it happens, it shouldn’t happen.”
The housing shortage has heightened barriers for victims who want to leave, says Det Sgt Roche. “You’d often hear people say, ‘Why doesn’t she just leave?’ The most dangerous time for a victim is when they decide to leave.”
Perhaps the most persistent myth, she says, is that these crimes happen elsewhere.
“Domestic violence happens in every type of home in Ireland, it doesn’t matter if you’re rich, poor, upper class, lower class, middle class. It happens in these perfect homes and perfect lives. It’s all walks of life.”
The sergeant’s 26 years of service include time on the drug unit and as a plainclothes officer in Killarney. But she considers her current role one of the hardest and most satisfying.
Gardaí in the unit receive mandatory psychological counselling every six months and have 24-hour counselling services. Typically, they only serve a few years on the unit.
“There are days where I’m saying, ‘what am I at? What am I doing here?’ But in simple terms, a problem shared is a problem halved. For people to come forward and know that they can talk to someone, that gives me hope. If it’s only one person in the county of Kerry, so be it.”
Asking for help is an act of the highest bravery, says Det Sgt Roche.
“Victims don’t have to face their darkest days on their own. As part of my job, I have met the most fantastic people along the way. They are so brave and so strong, and I tell them that because they don’t think they are.”
If you have been affected by issues in this article, you contact Adapt Kerry’s 24-hour helpline 066 712 9100 , email support@kerryrefuge.com or visit kerryrefuge.com
Or, contact Women’s Aid National at 1800 341 900 , helpline@womensaid.ie or womensaid.ie
Contact Men’s Aid at 01 554 3811, hello@mensaid.ie or mensaid.ie
You can also contact your local garda station and ask for the Protection Services Unit