A 52-year-old Tipperary GAA coach who sexually abused three young girls at a national school has been jailed for one year by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Judge Joseph Matthews was told that the man who was found guilty by a jury in November last still maintains his innocence and that the jury verdict was wrong.
The man cannot be named by order of the court, was convicted on seven charges of sexual assault on various dates in the September 1996 to June 1997 school year during football and hurling sessions. The girls were then aged between six and eight.
Judge Matthews said he was aware the defendant did not accept the jury's decision and still maintained his innocence, but as a judge his duty was to see things as they were in law and in life and not as it was imagined to be by the defendant.
He said the defendant had been a law-abiding citizen for the past 51 years of his life and had not been guilty of any wrongdoing until the jury convicted him of sexually abusing the girls.
Judge Matthews said he hoped the sentence was fair and just to both sides considering several mitigating factors he had to consider on behalf of the man in addition to the suffering and trauma the three girls had endured. He said the offences could be simply summarised as "placing the children's hands into the pockets of his trousers to bring their hands in contact with his genitalia" in order to acquire his own sexual gratification. These offences, therefore, were less serious than the ones that frequently come before the courts and this was a factor that had to be considered in imposing the sentence.
Judge Matthews said that this statement was not meant to take away from the "hurt, humiliation, embarrassment and the affront to their dignity" that the vulnerable young women had suffered from a person in a position of authority and trust.
The conviction itself had serious consequences for the defendant's future as he would be registered as a sexual offender under the Sexual Offences Act 2001. The judge said he could not, however, consider a non-custodial sentence in light of the children's suffering and the impact the man's actions had on their lives.
Judge Matthews imposed a one- year sentence on each of the seven convictions, to run concurrently, and he unconditionally suspended the final three months.
Sergeant Helen Casey told Mr Anthony Sammon SC, prosecuting, the defendant was working as a coach in a combined GAA and FÁS scheme at national schools in the Tipperary area. The offences all involved him taking the girl's hands and putting then into his pockets to feel his genitalia.
During the trial the victims, giving their evidence via video-link, denied they voluntarily put their hands in his pocket to fish for sweets and coins.