A FORMER top amateur boxing coach and convicted child abuser has been jailed for 6½ years for the rape and sexual assault of five teenage boys over a 13-year period.
Frank Mulligan (63) of Mulladuff, Smithboro, Co Monaghan, made some of his victims pray before and after the sex attacks, which he claimed was “God’s will”.
One complainant broke down in the witness box at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court and told the judge his life had been destroyed by Mulligan’s repeated sexual abuse and buggery of him on a date in late 1997.
The man said he’d been on a “path of self-destruction” since the incidents, couldn’t hold down a job, had a troubled family life and had at times turned to alcohol, drugs and petty crime.
Mulligan pleaded guilty to buggery of three boys and sexual and indecent assault of two others in different locations between January 1989 and July 2002.
He was convicted of similar offences against other boys after a two-day trial in early 2008 and was jailed for seven years.
Judge Katherine Delahunt said Mulligan had abused the trust and faith that the victims and their parents had put in him when he committed these “heinous” acts and added that they were carried out under the “veil of religion and pseudo-discipline”.
“The suffering that each of these men now endured for your self-gratification cannot be understated and their suffering will continue into the future,” Judge Delahunt said. She added that the victim impact statements made tragic reading.
Judge Delahunt acknowledged that Mulligan had been “a well-known and well-respected member of his community with well-publicised successes in boxing and that this reputation has now been damaged”.
The judge accepted that Mulligan had been abused himself as a child, that he has since shown remorse and has indicated an intention to seek treatment upon his release.
She further accepted that although he initially denied the charges, he ultimately pleaded guilty which meant that his victims “did not have to relive these horrors in the witness box”.
She ordered that he undergo seven years’ post-release supervision and attend for counselling as recommended by the probation service.
Garda Seán Grant told Mary-Rose Gearty SC, prosecuting, that Mulligan lured one of the victims back to his home for sports massages after training or before a boxing match.
The victim told gardaí his ex-coach made him lie naked on his double bed the day before a fight, and rubbed oil on his body including his private parts.
Garda Grant said the then 15-year-old described a similar incident in March 1997, when he woke up after falling asleep during a massage to find Mulligan naked and having oral sex with him.
The victim said Mulligan buggered him in the same room some months later between November 17th and December 6th, after talking to him about Adam and Eve and about being gay. The man said Mulligan slapped him when he pulled away in pain, then knelt at the bedside and prayed.
Mulligan later told the man he’d have no chance of winning matches because he “was still going with girls”.
Another young man told gardaí Mulligan made him pray facing him on a cushion placed on the floor of his home in November 2000.
The man said Mulligan “whispered the ‘Our Father’ as he rubbed the boy’s body under his clothes.
Mulligan told the then 16-year-old boy: “If you want me to train you, you have to accept God’s will.”