Patrick Bassett wins partial suspension of indecent assault sentence

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

The Court of Appeal suspended the last 12 months of Patrick Bassett’s four-year prison term for indecent assault on 13 October 2015. The proceedings were reported on 13 October 2015.

Bassett had pleaded guilty to 22 counts of indecent assault against one boy and one count against his brother. The offences took place in County Cork during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

At Cork Circuit Criminal Court on 28 May 2014, Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin imposed the original four-year prison sentence.

Mr Justice George Birmingham heard the appeal with Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan and Mr Justice John Edwards. He said the sole reason for adjusting the sentence was Bassett’s signed District Court guilty plea at the first available opportunity. An early signed plea removed the prospect of a contested trial and victims facing cross-examination. Bassett’s age had already been fully reflected in the sentence, he said.

Mr Justice George Birmingham described repeated daily abuse, beginning when one brother was 10 and continuing until he was 14 or 15. He said the boys were vulnerable and lacked a father figure, a role Bassett had claimed to fulfil.

The judges also imposed 12 months of supervision following release. Bassett accepted a personal €100 bond requiring him to keep the peace and behave well during imprisonment and the suspended period. He also accepted supervision by the probation service after release.

Derek Cooney BL, representing the Director of Public Prosecutions, said Bassett had expressed no remorse and had failed to cooperate with gardaí. He said Bassett had blamed the child, claiming the child had seduced him and had never told him to stop.

The report also described a recent serious assault on Bassett in prison by a younger prisoner whose cell he had been placed in.