AN OCTOGENARIAN from Dublin who sexually abused his niece more than 30 years ago has been jailed for nine months by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court.
James (Bud) Kennedy (86) of Cherryfield Road, Walkinstown, pleaded guilty to two counts of indecently assaulting the victim on dates unknown between January 1st, 1972 and December 31st, 1975.
Mr Justice Carney, who was told the victim wanted the attacker named in media reports, said he didn't expect her to be happy with what he was about to do.
"I can only have regard to the two offences to which he has pleaded guilt. They are not sample offences."
He imposed concurrent sentences of nine and six months and remanded Kennedy on bail to March 31 before beginning his prison sentence.
The victim described Kennedy in her impact statement as a "selfish and arrogant man" who had never shown remorse and though he had finally pleaded guilty "he is doing me no favours".
She said he had destroyed her childhood but she now had closure after years "of anxiety, fear, anger and stress" during which he used "every possible trick" to stop the prosecution.
Det Garda John Doggett (retired) told prosecuting counsel Paul Coffey (with Martina Baxter BL), the victim was nine or 10 years old when the offences happened.
He said Kennedy exposed himself to her on the first occasion and on the second occasion he fondled her vaginal area. He was aged about 50 at the time. Det Garda Doggett said that when arrested in 1999 after the matters came to light, Kennedy at first vehemently denied the allegations and judicial review proceedings went all the way to the Supreme Court which rejected the application to stop the prosecution.
After Kennedy was acquitted in another sexual assault case in relation to another relative, he offered his pleas in this case which were accepted by the State. Det Garda Doggett said Kennedy had no prior convictions.
Mr Coffey told Mr Justice Carney that the Director of Public Prosecutions placed the case on the middle to lower end of the sentencing scale.
Jim Kennedy jnr said that his father accepted his guilt and apologised to the victim and her family for his actions.
In her victim impact statement the woman said: "Finally, and after years of anxiety, fear, anger, and stress, I am having closure. This man destroyed my childhood, made me nervous and fearful and his actions had me afraid of the dark and my own shadow for many years.
"Now, and after dragging this case out to the bitter end and dragging me, my family and his family through endless months and years of anxiety, he finally pleads guilty." She added: "He betrayed me. I was a child - he was a middle-aged man; he was my uncle, a family friend, someone I thought I could trust. He portrayed himself as a caring supporter of my family when my father passed away.
"All the while, he knew exactly what he was doing, he broke the trust between adult and child and he betrayed the trust of a widow who had to work in two jobs to support her family."