Former sports coach jailed over sexual abuse of two teens

A former sports coach has been jailed for three years for sexually abusing two teenage boys and for possession of a large amount of child pornography.

Colin Goggin (52) fled to Spain after his first victim came forward in 2007. He remained there for five years until he was returned to Ireland on a European arrest warrant. He later failed to show up for his trial before being caught and remanded in custody until sentencing.

Judge Martin Nolan called them serious offences and said it was Goggin's involvement with athletics which gave him access to young victims.

He imposed three years for each of Goggin’s victims and two years for possession of the child pornography. All sentences are to run concurrently. Goggin thanked the judge before being led away.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard Goggin has held various jobs including work as a photographer and external sports coach with a south Dublin school.

He sexually assaulted one of his victims during a photo shoot in his house and abused the other boy while pretending to treat him for a sports injury.

After one victim came forward in 2007 gardaí searched his home and discovered about 2,000 images of child pornography. A large portion of his was graded by gardaí as being in the second most offensive category of child pornography on a scale of five. He also had 21 movie files which were in the second worst category.

Goggin, who has a former address of Beach Park Road, Foxrock, pleaded guilty to possession of the material at his home on March 19th, 2007. He also pleaded guilty to indecently or sexually assaulting two teenagers at his home between 1987 and 1994.

Sgt Colm O’Giollain told prosecuting counsel Roisin Lacey that Goggin met both victims through athletics. He asked one boy if he could take pictures of him.

The boy felt special because he thought Goggin was asking him to model for him. They went back to Goggin’s home and into a back bedroom where Goggin had his photography equipment set up.

Goggin told him to strip naked which the boy did despite feeling uncomfortable. He told him he would have to rub a special lotion on the boy for the photos. He then molested the boy while telling him to “think about a girl he likes”. He took some pictures then told the boy to turn around and continued to molest him.

The second victim was being trained by Goggin in athletics. One day when he complained of a sports injury, Goggin said he had a pill that he could put in the boy’s anus which would help. Goggin became forceful and said it had to be done. He onlt stopped when the boy screamed. The victim later told gardaí he never saw any pill.

During interview in 2007, before he went to Spain, Goggin denied ever abusing the first victim. He was never interviewed in relation to the second boy.

Defence counsel Sean Gillane said Goggin’s eventual guilty pleas were a relief to the victims and saved the State the “huge problems” that can arise during trials of old charges.

Counsel said Goggin was living rough in Athlone when last arrested and that this represented a “very very significant descent downwards in terms of his background, in material terms”.

He said Goggin has held a range of jobs including being retained as a photographer by a well know solicitor’s firm to take photos in personal injury cases.