Woman (68) jailed for ‘heinous’ sexual abuse of two boys in Co Kerry 30 years ago

A 68-year-old woman has been jailed for 2½ years for sexually abusing two young boys in a “heinous” way 30 years ago.

Josephine McMahon pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to two sample counts of sexually assaulting the brothers at an address in Co Kerry on dates between 1992 and 1996. The boys were minors at the time of the abuse, which occurred when they were visiting McMahon’s house.

The court heard McMahon, of Railway Road, Kenmare, now suffers from a number of serious medical difficulties and is a wheelchair user.

Ms Justice Karen O’Connor noted that the maximum sentence for the offence at the time is five years. She said she must take mitigating factors into account when sentencing McMahon, including that her health has significantly deteriorated and she will require dialysis in the coming months.

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She handed down a sentence of 3½ years and suspended the final 12 months on a number of conditions. She ordered McMahon to remain under the supervision of the Probation Service for a further 12 months upon her release.

Ms Justice O’Connor paid tribute to the complainants, saying they had demonstrated “extraordinary courage and dignity” throughout the court process.

At a sentence hearing earlier this month, Det Garda Darragh McGuire told Thomas Rice BL, prosecuting, that the youngest complainant was sexually abused while McMahon was minding him. He was picking rhubarb in the garden when McMahon fell over and the boy, then aged about four or five, laughed.

Wooden spoon

McMahon took him into a bathroom and sexually assaulted him with a wooden spoon, telling him: “You won’t laugh at me again”. She told him if he screamed it would be worse for him.

As an adult, the complainant told gardaí that McMahon ran him a bath as he was bleeding after the assault, which she repeatedly told him it was his own fault.

The court heard that from then on, McMahon started to undress herself around the boy and asked him if he wanted to touch her. She started going to the toilet in front of him. On the second occasion of sexual assault, she urinated in his bath and when he protested, she once again assaulted him with the wooden spoon. A third sexual assault of a similar nature occurred in one of the bedrooms, the court heard.

In his victim impact statement, read out in court by Det Garda McGuire, the complainant said he has suffered from “crippling depression and anxiety” as a result of the abuse he suffered. He said he struggled with addiction issues as a teenager and has had suicidal thoughts.

“I know I should feel grateful you pleaded guilty for sexually abusing me,” he said. “But I am left with so many unanswered questions. Why me?”

He said he would “be forever scarred by what you put me through and I have to live with that”.

The second complainant was abused by McMahon on a number of occasions when he was aged between eight and 12 while he was visiting the same house.

The court heard McMahon touched him inappropriately, often when they were passing each other in a narrow hallway. She exposed herself to him in the toilet and threatened him with the wooden spoon, although she did not sexually assault him with it.

‘Heinous’

In his victim impact statement, the second complainant said McMahon had engaged in “heinous” abuse and that she robbed him of his childhood. He said he has “deep emotional scars”, struggles to express his feelings and is “quick to temper if cornered or trapped” as a result of what happened.

Ms Justice O’Connor told the brothers they had nothing to be ashamed of and commended them for coming forward, which she said took strength and courage. She said their disclosures of abuse could help others to do likewise.

Michael Bowman SC, defending McMahon, who had no previous convictions, handed in a short letter of apology from his client in which she stated: “I sincerely apologise to (the complainants) for what happened.”