Engineer who abused six child relatives jailed

By Declan Brennan

An engineer who spent years grooming six children who he sexually assaulted has been jailed for seven years.

The 63-year-old Dublin man pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 10 sample counts of indecent and sexual assaults at places in counties Dublin and Cork.

Most of the offending took place on unknown dates between 1983 and 1990, but some time between 1999 and 2000, the man sexually assaulted one of the victims a second time when she was an adult.

The offending took place at the man's family home in Dublin, at another family home in county Cork and later at the man's Dublin home.

The defendant cannot be named to protect the anonymity of the six victims, five of whom were his first cousins and a sixth who was a cousin of a cousin.

Judge Orla Crowe said the offences had been a grievous assault upon the victims and were “entirely predatory”. She said the man had targeted the children and taken advantage of the admiration they had for their “cool older cousin”.

She observed the impact of the offending on the victims had been immense and said the offences were a breach of trust. She echoed the words of one the victims that this was “shameless exploitation”.

The court heard the man previously received a suspended sentence in 2005 for sexual assault.

Judge Crowe noted he has written a letter of remorse and has significant health difficulties. She took into account documentation handed in on his behalf, including a psychological report.

She said she was conscious the court process does not undo the harm caused to the blameless injured parties. She said it should be acknowledged that they had stood up for the children and young people they were at the time and held the man to account.

Judge Crowe set a headline sentence of nine years and, taking into account mitigating and personal circumstances, she imposed a sentence of seven years' imprisonment.

Detective Garda Kathy Higgins told Shaun Smyth, prosecuting, that the child victims looked up to the defendant as a “cool older cousin” and that teenagers would often hang out in his home and there was drinking.

The offending came to light when one of the victims went to gardaí in March 2023.

This woman was aged between nine and 11 when the defendant, who was in his mid 20s, indecently assaulted her in the autumn of 1988.

He brought the child into his bedroom and told her to lay on the bed where he moved his hands over her body above her clothes as well as under her top.

“I lay frozen, I was an innocent child,” she told the court, reading from her victim impact report. She said she felt terrified, confused and disoriented and that these feelings have never left her.

“I was innocent, and he shamelessly exploited me,” she said. The defendant took her out of the bedroom into a living area in which a number of teenage boys were watching a graphic adult porn video.

The victim said that “young boys were watching a woman getting raped” and she found it “very strange”.

The court heard that this victim met her cousin again 11 years later and stayed over at his Dublin home. During the night she woke up to find the defendant naked in her bed rubbing up against her.

She said she felt this sexual assault was “definitely my fault” and “felt disgusted with myself”.

“I was frozen in the bed just like I was when I was 10 years old. I blanked out with fear,” she said.

She said after this attack, she felt consumed by guilt but later began to realise that she was still so young as a 21-year-old and that her cousin had taken advantage of that.

She said he “spent years grooming us”. She said that as a child, she hung around his home with other children, many of them teenagers, but that “there was a strange undertone” to these gatherings.

“It never felt comfortable. It always felt strange,” she said. She said that when his abusive behaviour later emerged it caused “so much pain in our families” and resulted in splits in the family.

One of the victims was aged 13 when the defendant, in his mid-20s, sexually assaulted him by touching his penis.

Another boy was aged 12 in the mid to late 1980s when his cousin made him masturbate him. This abuse escalated to involve oral sex.

The victim said he was never comfortable with the sexual activity and that the defendant plied him with money and gifts.

Another victim said she was aged around nine when her cousin indecently assaulted her while her sister was in the same room. She said he indecently assaulted her a number of times and that he tried to “make it seem normal”.

One victim told gardaí that he froze after the defendant sexually assaulted him when he was aged around 12 years old. When he told his abuser “it wasn't right”, the defendant replied “why can't you have a bit of fun?”

The man told the court that the defendant told him not to tell anyone about what had happened. “I was ashamed and embarrassed that I let these things happen to me,” he said, adding that he now feels ashamed that he “never had the courage” to tell anyone.

The sixth victim was a teenager in 1990 when the defendant made him give him oral sex. He said the defendant threatened to tell the victim's parents that he had been drinking and smoking.

The man said he felt ashamed about what had happened and felt he couldn't tell anyone about it. The court heard he, like many of the other victims, went to gardaí after the first victim made her complaint.

The defendant has three previous convictions for sexual assault of a male from 2002. In April 2005, he was given an 18-month suspended sentence.

In his victim impact statement, one man said he was still trying to make sense of the impact of the abuse and didn't feel strong enough to come to court.

Det Gda Higgins agreed with Paul Murray SC, defending, that the remorse expressed by his client was genuine. She also agreed that the defendant dealt with the allegations in “the best possible way”.

He said his client has been assessed as being at a low risk of re-offending. He asked the court to take into account his client's role in caring for his elderly parents.

Counsel said his client has a very good work history as an engineer and asked the court to take into account that the guilty pleas were entered at “very early” stage.

He said his client knows he is going to prison but asked the court to bear in mind that his client will be going into prison for first time in his life in his mid-60s.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.