Wexford man jailed for sexual assault of younger cousin

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

A Wexford man was sentenced at the Central Criminal Court on 2 July 2024 to two years and 10 months in prison, with the final four months suspended on condition that he undergo a sex offender programme.

The 23-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect his victim’s identity, was found guilty of 14 counts of sexual assault after a trial earlier in 2024. He continues to maintain his innocence.

The offences occurred on unknown dates between 2013 and 2020 in Wexford, mainly in the boy’s home and also in a grandparent’s house. The boy was aged between five and 11, while the defendant was between 13 and 20. The court heard that the man touched his cousin’s penis and forced the boy to do the same to him.

The boy confided in his mother in April 2020 and she went to gardaí. The man denied wrongdoing when interviewed in 2021. He has been in custody since his conviction and has no previous convictions.

In a victim impact statement, the boy described the effect of the abuse on his emotional and psychological development. Ms Justice Melanie Greally said it had a profound and lasting effect and triggered a self-destructive course of behaviour.

The judge set a headline sentence of three and a half years before reducing it to two years and 10 months. Mitigation included the man’s youth at the time, his unstable and dysfunctional background and his limited intellectual capacity. Defence counsel Ciaran O’Loughlin SC said his client’s life had been unsettled and that he moved frequently.